LR.

GALPERIN

STYLISTICS

LR. GALPERIN

STYLISTICS
TH IR D EDITION

MOSCOW VYSSAJA SK OLA 1981

I
I

T A B L E O F C O N TEN T S

( .................................
.
...................................................

6
8

Part I. Introduction
. . . . . . .
G eneral N otes on Style and S ty l is ti c s ........................
Expressive Means (EM) and S tylistic Devices ( S D ) .................................
General Notes on Functional Styles ofL a n g u a g e .......................................
V arieties of L a n g u a g e ...........................................................................................
A B rief O utline of the D evelopment of the English L iterary (Standard)
Language .
.
. .
6. Meaning from a S tylistic P o in t of V ie w ..........................................................
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

9
5
32
35
41
57

P art II. Stylistic Classification of the English Vocabulary

70
72
76
76
79
83

1. General C o n sid e ra tio n s ..........................................................................................

2. N eutral, Common L iterary and Common Colloquial V ocabulary
.
3. Special L iterary Vocabulary
. . .
a) T e rm s ..........................................................................................
b) P oetic and Highly L iterary W ords . . . .
c) Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete W ords
d) B arbarism s and F o re ig n is m s
. 8 7
e) L iterary Coinages (Including Nonce-Words)
.
4. Special Colloquial Vocabulary
a) Slang . . . .
.
b) Jargonism s . . . . . . . . . . . .
c) Professionalism s . . .
. 1
116
d) D ialectal W o r d s ......
e) V ulgar W ords o r V u lg a rism s ................................
f) Colloquial Coinages (Words and Meanings)
. . . . . .

92
104
104
109
1 3
118
119

P art III. Phonetic Expressive Means an d Stylistic Devices

G eneral Notes .
Onomatopoeia
A lliteration .
R hym e .
R hythm
. . . . . . . . . .

. . .

. .

123
124
126
128
129

P art IV. Lexical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

.
136
Intentional Mixing of the Stylistic Aspect of W o r d s .........................
Interaction of Different Types of Lexical M e a n in g ..............................................
138
1. Interaction of Prim ary D ictionary and Contextually Imposed Meanings
139
M etaphor .
. .
139
M e to n y m y ...............................................................................................................
144
I r o n y ...........................................................................................
.
146
2. Interaction of Prim ary an d D erivative Logical Meanings
. . .
148
S ty listic Devices Based on Polysem antic Effect, Zeugma and P un .
.
148
3. Interaction ofLogical and Em otive Meanings
. . .
153
Interjections and Exclam atory W ords

154

The E p i t h e t ....................................................
O x y m o ro n ...................................................................................................................
4. Interaction of Logical and Nominal Meanings
....................................
A n to n o m a s ia
.
C. Intensification of a Certain Feature or a Thing or Phenomenon
S i m i l e ...................................
Periphrasis . . .
E u p h e m ism
.
H y p e rb o le .........................................................................................................................
D. Peculiar Use of Set Expressions
.
, .
The C l i c h e ......................................
Proverbs and Sayings
E p ig ra m s ...........................................................................................................................
Q uotations .
...........................
A llu s io n s ..............................
D ecomposition of Set P ln a s e s ...................................................................................

157
16 .?

164
164
166
167
169
173
IZS
177
177
181
184
186
187
189

P art V. Syntactical Expressive Means and S tylistic Devices

A. General C o n sid eratio n s...................................................................................................
B. Problems Concerning the Composition of Spans of U tterance Larger than the
S e n te n c e ...........................
..
Supra-Phrasal U n its .
The P a r a g r a p h ...............................................................................................................
C. Compositional Patterns of Syntactical A rra n g e m e n t..........................................
S tylistic Inversion . .
Detached C o n stru c tio n ..................................................................................................
Parallel C o n s tru c tio n ....................................................................................................
Chiasm us (Reversed Parallel Construction)
.
R e p e titio n ........................................................................................................................
Enum eration . .
. . .
Suspense . . . .
Climax (G radation)
................................................................................................
X n tith e sis..........................................................................................................................
D. P articular Ways of Combining Parts of the U tterance (L in k a g e ).................
A sy n d e to n ...................
Polysyndeton .
.
.
.
.
The Gap-Sentence L i n k ...............................................................................................
E. P articular Use of Colloquial Constructions
...................................................
E l l i p s i s ..............................................................................................................................
Break-in-the-N arrative (A p o sio p esis)...................
.
Q u e stio n -in -th e-N arra tiv e...................
Represented S p e e c h .......................................................................................................
a) U ttered Represented S p e e c h ........................................................................
b) U nuttered or Inner Represented S p e e c h .................................................
F. Stylistic Use of S tructural Meaning
Rhetorical Q uestions
...............................................................................................
L it o te s ................................................................................................................................

191
193
194
198
202
203
205
208
209
211
216
218
219
222
225
226
226
227
230
231
233
235
236
238
241
244
244
246

Part V I. Functional Styles of the English Language

Introductory R e m a r k s .................................
A. The Belles-Lettres Style .
. .
1. Language of P o e t r y ...............................................................................................
a) Compositional P atte rn s of R hythm ical A r r a n g e m e n t..........................
Metre and L i n e .............................................................................................
The S t a n z a ............................
Free Verse and Accented V e r s e ...................................................................
b) Lexical and Syntactical Features ofVerso . . . " ........................
2. Em otive Prose . .
3. Language of the D r a m a ........................................................................................

249
250
252
252
252
258
261
264
270
281

; S t y l e ......................................................................................................
1. Oratory and Sp eech es.......................................................................................
2. The E s s a y ...........................................................................................................
3. Journalistic Articles
...............................................................................
G Newspaper Style (w ritten byV. L. N a y e r ) ......................................................
1. Brief News I t e m s ............................................................................................
2. Advertisements and A nnouncem ents............................................................
3. The H e a d lin e .......................................................................................................
4. The E d ito r ia l.......................................................................................................
D. Scientific Prose S t y l e ..............................................................................................
E. The Style of Official D ocum ents......................................................................
Final R e m a r k s ................................................................................................................
List of Authors Referred t o ....................................................................................
Index of W ord s...............................................................................................................
B ibliography.........................

287
288
293
295
295
298
301
302
305
307
312
319
323
324
328


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. . . . , 1921, 1 .
. . . ., 1925.
. . 1919.
. . . ., 1924.
. . .
, 1927, 12.
. . . , 1923.
2 , 1954, 26 1955, JVe 1. .
3 S ty le in Language, ed. by T. Sebeok. N. Y . Ldn, 1960.
4 . . I 11, 1969.
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, 1971
1975 . .

3- .
Newspaper Style
, Some
Notes on the Theory of Text and Procedures of Stylistic. Analysis. ,
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PART I

INTRODUCTION

I. GENERAL NOTES ON STYLE AND STYLISTICS

5 t y l i s t i c s , som etim es called I i n g u o-s t y l i s t i c s , is a

branch of general linguistics. It has now been m ore or less definitely
outlined. It deals m ainly w ith tw o interdependent tasks: a) th e investi
gation of th e inventory of special language m edia w hich by th eir ontol
ogical features secure the desirable effect of the u tteran ce and b) cer
tain types of tex ts (discourse) which due to th e choice and arrangem ent
of language m eans are distinguished by th e pragm atic aspect of the
com m unication. The two objectives of stylistics are clearly discernible
as two separate fields of investigation. T he inventory of special language
m edia can be analysed and their ontological features revealed if presented
in a system in which the co-relation between th e m edia becomes evident.
T he types of tex ts can be analysed if th eir linguistic com ponents
are presented in th eir interaction, th u s revealing the unbreakable u n ity
and transparency of constructions of a given type. The types of texts
th a t are distinguished by the pragm atic aspect of th e com m unication
are called f u n c t i o n a l s t y l e s of l a n g u a g e (F S )\ the
special m edia of language which secure th e desirable effect of the u tte r
ance are called s t y l i s t i c d e v i c e s (S D ) and e x p r e s s i v e
m e a n s (E M ).
The first field of investigation, i.e. SDs and EMs, necessarily touches
upon such general language problem s as th e aesthetic function of lan
guage, synonym ous ways of rendering one and the sam e idea, em otional
colouring in language, th e in terrelatio n between language and thought,
the individual m anner of an author in m aking use of language and a
num ber of other issues.
The second field, i.e. functional styles, cannot avoid discussion of
such m ost general linguistic issues as oral and w ritten v arieties of lan
guage, th e notion of th e literary (standard) language, th e constituents
of tex ts larger th a n th e sentence, th e generative aspect of literary texts,
and some others.
In dealing w ith th e objectives of stylistics, certain pronouncem ents
of adjacent disciplines such as theory of inform ation, literatu re, psy
chology, logic and to some extent statistics m ust be touched upon.
T his is indispensable; for now adays no science is entirely isolated from
other dom ains of hum an knowledge; and linguistics, p artic u la rly its
branch sty listics, cannot avoid references, to the above m entioned dis
ciplines because it is confronted w ith certain overlapping issues.
T he branching off of stylistics in language science was indirectly
the result of a long-established tendency of gram m arians to confine
9

th eir investigations to sentences, clauses and w ord-com binations which

are w ell-form ed, to use a dubious term , neglecting anything th at did
not fall under th e recognized and received standards. This tendency
became p artic u la rly strong in what is called descriptive linguistics. The
generative gram m ars, which appeared as a reaction against descriptive
linguistics, have confirmed th at th e task of any gram m ar is to lim it
the scope of investigation of language data to sentences w hich are con
sidered w ell-form ed. E verything th at fails to meet th is requirem ent
should be excluded from linguistics.
B ut language studies cannot avoid subjecting to observation any
language d ata w hatever, so where gram m ar refuses to tread stylistics
steps in. S ty listics has acquired its own statu s w ith its own inventory
of tools (SDs and EMs), w ith its own object of investigation and w ith
its own m ethods of research.
T he stylistics of a highly developed language like English or R us
sian has brought into the science of language a separate body of m edia,
th u s W'idening th e range of observation of phenom ena in language. The
Mgnificance of th is branch of linguistics can hardly be over-estim ated.
A num ber of events in the developm ent of stylistics m ust be m entioned
here as landm arks. The first is th e discussion of the problem of style and
stylistics in in 1954, in which m any im portant
general and p articu lar problem s were broadly analysed and some obscure
aspects elucidated. Secondly, a conference on S tyle in Language was
held at Indiana U niversity in th e spring of 1958, followed by th e p u b li
cation of th e proceedings of th is conference (1960) under th e editorship
of Thomas Sebeok. Like th e discussion in
th is conference revealed the existence of quite divergent points of view
held by different students of language and literatu re. T hirdly, a con
ference on style and sty listics was held in the Moscow S tate Pedagogical
In stitu te of Foreign Languages in M arch 1969. At th is conference lines
were draw n along which studies in linguo-stylistics m ight be m aintained.
An interesting sym posium was also held in Italy , the proceedings of
which were published under the editorship of professor S. C hatm an
in 1971.
A great num ber of m onographs, textbooks, articles, and dissertation
papers are now at th e disposal of a scholar in stylistics. The stream of
inform ation grows larger every m onth. Two A m erican journals appear
regularly, which m ay keep the student inform ed as to trends in the
theory of stylistics. They are S ty le issued at the A rkansas U niversity
(U.S.A.) and Language and S ty le published in Southern Illinois U ni
versity (U.S.A.) (See also the bibliography on p. 324).
It is in view of the ever-growing significance of the exploration of
language p o ten tialities th a t so much atten tio n is paid in linguo-stylistics
to th e analysis of expressive m eans (EMs) and sty listic devices (SDs),
to th eir n atu re and functions, to th eir classification and to possible
in terpretations of additional m eanings they m ay carry in a message
as wel 1 as th eir aesthetic value.
In order to ascertain th e borders of stylistics it is necessary to go at
some length into th e question of w hat is style.
10

^ T h e word s t y l e is derived from the L atin word s tilu s which m eant

a short stick sharp at one end and flat at th e other used by th e Rom ans
for w riting on wax tab lets. Now the word sty le is used in so m any sen
ses th a t it has become a breeding ground for am biguity. The word is
applied to th e teaching of how to w rite a com position (see below); it
is also used to reveal the correspondence between thought and expres
sion; it frequently denotes an individual m anner of m aking use of lan
guage; it som etim es refers to m ore general, abstract notions thus inevi
tab ly becom ing vague and obscure, as, for exam ple, S tyle is th e m an
him self (Buffon), Style is depth (D arbyshire); S tyle is deviations1.
(E nkvist); S tyle is choice, and the like j
All these ideas directly or indirectly bear on issues in stylistics.
Some of them become very useful by revealing the springs which m ake
our utterances em phatic, effective and goal-directed. It will therefore
not come am iss to quote certain interesting observations regarding
style m ade by different w riters from different angles. Some of these ob
servations are dressed up as epigram s or sententious m axim s like the
ones quoted above. H ere are some m ore of them .
S ty le is a q u ality of language which com m unicates precisely em o
tions or thoughts, or a system of em otions or thoughts, peculiar to the
au th o r. (J. M iddleton M urry)
. . . a tru e idiosyncrasy of style is th e result of an au th o rs success
in com pelling language to conform to his m ode of experience. (J. M iddle
ton M urry)
S tyle is a co n tex tually restricted linguistic v a r ia tio n (E nkvist)
S tyle is a selection of non-distinctive features of language. (L. B loom
field)
S tyle is sim ply synonym ous w ith form or expression and hence a
superfluous term . (Benedetto Croce)
S tyle is essentially a citational process, a body of form ulae, a m em
ory (alm ost in th e cybernetic sense of the w ord), a cu ltu ral and not an
expressive inheritance. (R oland Barthes)
Some linguists consider th a t the word sty le and the subject of
linguistic sty listics is confined to the study of the effects of the message,
i.e. its im pact on th e reader. Thus M ichael R iffaterre w rites th a t S ty l
istics w ill be a linguistics of th e effects of th e message, of th e output of
th e act of com m unication, of its attention-com pelling function. 1 This
point of view has clearly been reached under the influence of recent
developm ents in th e general theory of inform ation. Language, being
one of the m eans of com m unication or, to be exact, th e m ost im portant
m eans of com m unication, is regarded in the above q uotation from a
pragm atic point of view. S tylistics in th at case is regarded as a language
science w hich deals w ith th e results of the act of com m unication.
To a v ery considerable degree th is is true. S tylistics m ust tak e into
consideration th e o u tp u t of th e act of com m unication . B ut stylistics
m ust also investigate the ontological, i.e. n atu ra l, inherent, and func
1 Riffaterre, M . The S tylistic Function. Proceedings of the 9th In ternational Con
gress of L inguists, The Hague, 1964, pp. 316 17. .

II

tional peculiarities of the means of com m unication which m ay ensure

the effect sought A rchibald A. H ill states th at A current definition of style and sty l
istics is th a t structures, sequences, and patterns which extend, or m ay
extend, beyond the boundaries of individual sentences define style,
and th a t the study of them is stylistics. 1
The tru th of th is approach to style and stylistics lies in the fact th a t
th e author concentrates on such phenom ena in language as present a
system , in other words, on facts which are not confined to individual use.
The most frequent definition of style is one expre sed by Seym our
Chatm an: Style is a product of individual choices and patterns of choices
(emphasis added) am ong linguistic possibilities. 2
This definition indirectly deals w ith the idiosyncrasies peculiar to a
given w riter. Somehow it fails to em brace such phenom ena in tex t stru c
tu re where th e in d iv id u a l is reduced to the m inim um or even done
aw ay w ith entirely (giving preference to n o n-individualistic forms in
using language means). However, th is definition is acceptable when
applied to th e w ays m en-of-letters use language when they seek to m ake
it conform to th eir im m ediate aim s and purport. A som ewhat broader
view of style is expressed by W erner W inter who m aintains th a t A style
m ay be said to be characterized by a pattern of recurrent selections
from th e inventory of optional features of a language. V arious types of
selection can be found: com plete exclusion of an optional elem ent,
obligatory inclusion of a feature optional elsewhere, varying degrees
of inclusion of a specific v aria n t w ithout com plete elim ination of com
peting features. 3
T he idea of taking various types of selection as criteria for d istin
guishing styles seems to be a sound one. It places the whole problem on
a solid foundation of objective crite ria, nam ely, th e interdependence of
optional and obligatory features.
There is no point in quoting other definitions of style. They are too
m any and too heterogeneous to fall under one m ore or less satisfactory
unified notion. U ndoubtedly all these diversities in the understanding
of th e word sty le stem from its am biguity. B ut still all these various
definitions leave an im pression th at by and large they all have som ething
in common. All of them point to some integral significance, nam ely,
th a t style is a set of characteristics by which we distinguish one author
from another or m em bers of one subclass from members of other sub
classes, all of which are m em bers of the sam e general c la ss .4 W hat are
these sets of characteristics typical of a w riter or of a subclass of the
literary language will be seen in the analysis of th e language m eans of a
given w riter and of the subclasses of th e general literary standard.

1 H ill, Archibald A . Poetry and S ty listics. In: Essays in L iterary Linguistics ,

p. 54.
2 Chatman, Seymour. S tylistics: Q u an titativ e and Q ualitativ e, 1967, v. 1, p. 30.
3 Winter, Werner. Styles as D ialects. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress
of Linguists, p. 324.
4 See Style in Language , ed. by T. Sebeok. N. Y ., 1960, p. 427.

12

A nother point the above quotations have in common is th at all of

them concentrate on the form of the expression alm ost to the detrim ent
of th e content. In other words, style is regarded as som ething th at be
longs exclusively to the plane of expression and not to the plane of con
ten t. 1 T his opinion predom inantly deals w ith the correspondence between
th e intention of th e w riter whoever he may bea m an of letters, the
w riter of a diplom atic docum ent, an article in a new spaper, or a scien
tific treatise and th e effect achieved. The evaluation is also based on
w hether the choice of language m eans conforms w ith the m ost general
p attern of th e given type of te x ta novel, a poem, a letter, a docum ent,
an article, an essay and so on.
It follows th en th at the term sty le, being am biguous, needs a re
strictin g adjective to denote w hat particu lar aspect of style we intend
to deal w ith. It is suggested here th a t the term i n d i v i d u a l s t y l e
should be applied to th at sphere of linguistic and literary science which
deals w ith th e peculiarities of a w riters individual m anner of using lan
guage m eans to achieve th e effect he desires. D eliberate choice must
be distinguished from a habitual idiosyncrasy in the use of language
u nits; every individual has his own m anner and habits of using them .
T he speech of an individual which is characterized by peculiarities ty p
ical of th a t p articu lar individual is called an i d i I e t. The idiolect
should be distinguished from w hat we call individual style, inasm uch
as the word sty le presupposes a deliberate choice.
W hen Buffon coined his fam ous saying which, due to its epigram m atical form, became a by-word all over the w orld, he had in m ind the idio
lect, i.e. those qualities of speech which are inherent and which reveal
a m an s breeding, education, social standing, etc. All these factors are,
however, undoubtedly interwoven w ith individual style. A m ans breed
ing and education w ill alw ays affect his tu rn of m ind and therefore will
n atu ra lly be revealed in his speech and w riting. B ut a w riter w ith a
genuine individual style will as m uch as possible avoid those language
p ecu liarities which point to his breeding and education in order to leave
room for th a t deliberate choice of language m eans w hich w ill secure
the effect sought.
It follows then th a t the individual style of a w riter is m arked by its
uniqueness. It can be recognized by the specific and peculiar com bina
tio n of language m edia and sty listic devices which in th e ir interaction
present a certain system . This system derives its origin from the crea
tiv e sp irit, and elusive though it m ay seem, it can nevertheless be as
certained. N atu rally , the individual style of a w riter w ill never be intirely independent of the literary norm s and canons of th e given period.
W hen we read novels by Swift or F ielding we can easily detect features
common to b oth WTiters. These features are conditioned b y the general
literary canons of th e period and cannot therefore be neglected. B ut the
ad ap tatio n s of these canons will alw ays be peculiar and therefore
1 In linguistics there are two term s now generally recognized and widely used
plane of expression and plane of content. These are synon\m ous to the concepts form and
matter.

13

these sets of characteristics typical of a writer or of a subclass of the

literary language will be seen in the analysis of the language means of a
given writer and of the subclasses of the general literary standard.
Another point the above quotations have in common is that all of
them concentrate on the form of the expression almost to the detriment
of the content. In other words, style is regarded as something that be
longs exclusively to the plane of expression and not to the plane of con
tent. 1 This opinion predominantly deals with the correspondence between
the intention of the writer whoever he may bea man of letters, the
writer of a diplomatic document, an article in a newspaper, or a scien
tific treatiseand the effect achieved. The evaluation is also based on
whether the choice of language means conforms with the most general
pattern of the given type of texta novel, a poem, a letter, a document,
an article, an essay and so on.
It follows then that the term style*, being ambiguous, needs a re
stricting adjective to denote what particular aspect of style we intend
to deal with. It is suggested here that the term i n d i v i d u a l s t y l e
should be applied to that sphere of linguistic and literary science which
deals with the peculiarities of a writers individual manner of using lan
guage means to achieve the effect he desires. Deliberate choice must
be distinguished from a habitual idiosyncrasy in the use of language
units; every individual has his own manner and habits of using them.
The speech of an individual which is characterized by peculiarities ty
pical of that particular individual is called an i d i o l e c t . The idiolect
should be distinguished from what we call individual style, inasmuch
as the word style* presupposes a deliberate choice.
When Buffon coined his famous saying which, due to its epigrammatical form, became a by-word all over the world, he had in mind the idio
lect, i.e. those qualities of speech which are inherent and which reveal
a mans breeding, education, social standing, etc. All these factors are,
however, undoubtedly interwoven with individual style. A mans breed
ing and education witl always affect his turn of mind and therefore will
naturally be revealed in his speech and writing. But a writer with a
genuine individual style w ill as much as possible avoid those language
peculiarities which point to his breeding and education in order to leave
room for that deliberate choice of language means which will secure
the effect sought.
It follows then that the individual style of a writer is marked by its
uniqueness. It can be recognized by the specific and peculiar combina
tion of language media and stylistic devices which in their interaction
present a certain system. This system derives its origin from the crea
tive spirit, and elusive though it may seem, it can nevertheless be as
certained. Naturally, the individual style of a writer will never be intirely independent of the literary norms and canons of the given period.
When we read novels by Swift or Fielding we can easily detect features
common to both writers. These features are conditioned by the general
* In linguistics there are two terms now generally recognized and widely used
plane of expression and plane of content. These are synonymous to the concepts form and
matter.

literary canons of the period and cannot therefore be neglected. But

the adaptations of these canons will always be peculiar and therefore
distinguishable. Alexander Blok said that the style of a writer is so
closely connected with the content of his soul, that the experienced eye
can see the soul through his style, and by studying the form penetrate
to the depth of the content.1 The idea of this subtle remark can be in
terpreted in the following way: the style of a writer can be ascertained
only by analysis of the form, i.e. language media. To analyse the form
in order to discover the idiosyncracies of a writers style is not an easy,
but a rewarding task. Approaches to components of individuality such
as 1) composition of larger-than-the sentence units (see p. 193), 2) rhythm
and melody of utterances, 3) system of imagery, 4) preferences for defi
nite stylistic devices and their co-relation with neutral language media,
5) interdependence of the language media employed by. the author and
the media characteristic of the personages, are indispensable.
The language of a writer is sometimes regarded as alien to linguostylistics. Here is what V. M. 2irmunsky writes: The language of a
writer can hardly be considered an object of linguo-stylistics. If analysed
outside the problem of style (the style of the work, the writer, the lit
erary trend or the literary era), the language falls into a mass of words,
collocations and grammatical facts, which taken in isolation will serve
as but unreliable evidence as to the life of the given language in the
given period of its development. 3
However, observations of the ways language means are employed
by different writers, provided no claim is made to defining the individ
ual style as a whole, may greatly contribute to the investigation of
the ontological nature of these means by throwing light on their poten
tialities and ways of functioning. The individuality of a writers style
is shown in a peculiar treatment of language means.
In this connection it is worth referring to Flauberts notion on style.
He considers style, as it were, non-personal, its merits being dependent
on the power of thought and on the acuteness of the writers perceptions.8
The same idea, only slightly modified, is expressed by J. Middleton
Murry who said that A true style must be unique, if we understand
by the phrase 'a true style a completely adequate expression in language
of a writers mode of feeling. *
In discussing the problem of individual style let us mhke it clear
from the outset that the problem itself is common ground for literature
and linguistics. However, inasmuch as language is the only media to
accommodate poetic messages, it is necessary to go at some length into
the domain of individual style, it being the testing ground for language
means.
The individual style of an author is frequently identified with the
general, generic term style. But as has already been pointed out, style
1 See: . . . ., 1961, . 69.
3 . . .... .:
, ., 1962, . 50.
3 . 18761891. , 1950, . X III, . 200.
* J. Middleton Murry, The Problem of Style. Ldn, 1961, pp. 14-15.

14

is a much broader notion. The individual style of an author is only one

of the applications of the general term style. The analysis of an authors
language seems to be the most important procedure in estimating his
individual style. This is obvious not only because language is the only
means available to convey the authors ideas to the reader in precisely
the way he intends, but also because writers unwittingly contribute
greatly to establishing the norms of the literary language of a given
period. In order to compel the language to serve his purpose, the writer
draws on its potential resources in a way different from what we see in
ordinary speech.
This peculiarity in the manner of using language means in poetry
and emotive prose has given rise to the notion of 5 t I e a s D e v ta n e . 1 Most illustrative of this tendency is George Saintsburys state
ment made as far back as 1895; "It is in the breach or neglect of the
rules that govern the structure of clauses, sentences, and paragraphs
that the real secret of style consists... *
The same idea is expressed by G. Vandryes, one of the prominent
linguists of today, who states that The belles-lettres style is always a
reaction against the common language; to some extent it is a jargon,
a literary jargon, which may have varieties. 3
The idea has a long history. In the 1920s there arose a trend which
was named formalism in literature and which has crucial relevance to
present-day endeavours to analyse the role of form in embodying matter.
Several literary critics representative of this school as well as a number
of writers maintained the idea that language sometimes imposes intol
erable constraints on freedom of thought. Hence all kinds of innovations
were introduced into the language which sometimes not only disagree
with the established norms of the language, but actually depart from
them in principle. The result in many cases is that the language steps
over the threshold of the readers ability to perceive the message.
The essential property, indeed, merit of a truly genuine individual
style is its conformity to the established norms of the language system
in their idiosyncratic variations. This uniqueness of the individual style
of an author is not easy to observe. It is due not only to the peculiar choice
of words, sentence-structures and stylistic devices, but also to the in
comparable manner these elements are combined.
It is hardly possible to under estimate the significance of a minute
analysis of the language of a writer when approaching the general no
tion of his style. The languagewill inevitably reveal some of the auth
ors idiosyncrasies in the use of language means. Moreover, the authors
choice of language means reflects to a very considerable extent the idea
of the work as a whole. Nowhere can the linguist observe the hidden
potentialities of language means more clearly than through a scrupulous
analysis of the ways writers use these means.
But for the linguist the importance of studying an authors indi
vidual style is not confined to penetration into the inner properties of
1 See N ils E rik Enkvist. Linguistic Stylistics. The Hague-Paris, 1973, 6.
a Saintsbury, G. Miscellaneous Essays. Ldn, 1895, p. 85.
* . . ., 1937, . 251-52. . 3. .: URSS, 2004.

15

language seems to be the most im portant procedure in estim ating his

individual style. This is obvious not only because language is the only
m eans av ailab le to convey the au th o rs ideas to the reader in precisely
th e way he intends, but also because w riters unw ittingly contribute
g reatly to establishing the norm s of the literary language of a given
period. In order to compel the language to serve his purpose, the w riter
draw s on its potential resources in a way different from w hat we see in
o rd in ary speech.
T his p ecu liarity in the m anner of using language m eans in poetry
and em otive prose has given rise to the notion of S t y l e a s D e v ia n c e . 1 Most illu stra tiv e of th is tendency is George S ain tsb u ry s state
m ent m ade as far back as 1895: It is in the breach or neglect of the
rules th at govern the structure of clauses, sentences, and paragraphs
th at the real secret of style co n sists... 2
T he sam e idea is expressed by G. V andryes, one of the prom inent
linguists of to d ay , who states th a t The belles-lettres style is alw ays a
reactio n against the common language; to some extent it is a jargon,
a literary jargon, which m ay have varieties. 3
The idea has a long history. In the 1920s there arose a trend which
was nam ed form alism in lite ratu re and which has crucial relevance to
present-day endeavours to analyse the role of form in em bodying m atter.
Several lite rary critics representative of th is school as well as a num ber
of w'riters m aintained th e idea th at language som etim es imposes intol
erable co n strain ts on freedom of thought. Hence all kinds of innovations
were introduced into the language which som etimes not only disagree
w ith th e established norms of the language, bu t actually depart from
them in principle. The result in m any cases is th a t the language steps
over th e threshold of th e readers ab ility to perceive the message.
The essential property, indeed, m erit of a tru ly genuine individual
sty le is its conform ity to the established norm s of the language system
in th eir idiosyncratic variations. T his uniqueness of the individual style
of an au th o r is not easy to observe. It is due not only to th e peculiar
choice of words, sentence-structures and stylistic devices, but also to
th e incom parable m anner these elem ents are com bined.
It is h ard ly possible to under estim ate the significance of a m inute
analysis of th e language of a w riter when approaching the general no
tion of his style. The language w'ill inevitably reveal some of the au th o rs
idiosyncrasies in the use of language means. Moreover, the au th o rs
choice of language m eans reflects to a very considerable extent the idea
of the work as a whole. Nowhere can the linguist observe the hidden
p o ten tialitie s of language m eans m ore clearly than through a scrupulous
analysis of the w ays w riters use these means.
B ut for the linguist the im portance of studying an au th o rs indi
v id u al style is not confined to penetration into the inner properties of
language m eans and stylistic devices. The w riters of a given period in
1 See: its Erik Enkvist. L inguistic Stvlistics. The Hague-Paris, 1973, 6 .
2 Suintsbnn/. G. Miscellaneous Essays. Ldn, 1895, p. 85.
3 . ., 1937, . 25152.

15

th e developm ent of th e lite ra ry language co n trib u te g reatly to establish

ing th e system of norm s of their period. It is w orth a passing note th at
th e investigations of language norm s at a given period are to a great
ex ten t m aintained on works of m en-of-letters.
One of the essential properties of a tru ly individual style is its per
m anence. It has great powers of endurance. It is easily recognized and
never loses its aesthetic value. The form into w hich the ideas are wrought
assumes a greater significance and therefore arrests our atten tio n . The
language of a tru ly in dividual style becomes de-autom atized. It m ay be
said th a t the form, i.e. th e language m eans them selves, generate m eaning.
T his w ill be shown later w hen we come to analyse the n ature and func
tions of sty listic devices.
The idea of individual style brings up the problem of the correspond
ence between thought and expression. M any great m inds have m ade
v alu ab le observations on the interrelation between these concepts. There
is a long list of books in w hich the problem is discussed from logical,
psychological, philosophical, aesthetic, pragm atic and purely linguistic
points of view'. H ere we shall only point out the m ost essential sides
of th e problem , viz. a) thought and language are inseparable; b) language
is a m eans of m aterializing thought. It follows then th a t the stylicist
cannot neglect th is interrelation when analysing the individual style
of an author. B ut it is one thing to take into account a certain phenom
enon as a p art of a general notion and another th in g to su b stitu te one
notion for another. To define style as the result of thin k in g out into lan
guage would be on the sam e level as to state th a t all wTe say is style. The
ab su rd ity of th is statem ent needs no com m ent.
The problem of th e correspondence betw een m atter and form (w'hich
are synonym ous for thought and expression) finds its most effective
w ording in the following: To finish and com plete your thought 1.. How
long it takes, how rare it is, w hat an immense d elig h t!.. As soon as
a thought has reached its full perfection, the word springs into being,
offers itself, and clothes th e thought. 1
N atu rally such a poetical representation of the creative process
should not be tak en literally . There is a certain am ount of em otional
charge in it and this, as is generally the case, obscures to some extent
th e precision w hich a definition m ust have. However, it is well known
th a t the search for an adequate expression often takes an enorm ous
am ount of tim e and m ental effort. This idea is b rillia n tly expressed by
V. M ayakovsky: .
.
.
T he genuine character of the individual style of an author is not
necessarily m anifest from the trick y or elaborate expressions he uses.
Some forms of th e language w hich pass unobserved even by an ex
perienced reader due to th eir seeming insignificance in the general sys
tem of language m ay be turned into m arked elem ents by the creative
1 Joubert. Q uoted from N. Foerster & J . At. Steadm an J r . Sentences and Thinking.
N. Y ., 1923, p. 1.

16

>

m ind of th e w riter. Som etim es these insignificant elem ents of th e

language scattered in the tex t are th e bearers of the au th o rs idiosyncratic
bias. This is p articu larly tru e of the ways H em ingway, F aulkner and
other m odern w riters have m ade use of language m eans, reflecting, as
it were, th e general tendency of trends in m odern English and A m erican
literatu re. According to the observations of m any a lite rary critic, the
style of m odern literary works is m uch m ore em otionally excited, di
shevelled, incoherent th a n th a t of Dickens, T hackeray, G alsw orthy.
The language of some ultra-m odern w riters to some extent reflects
th e ra p id ly increasing tem po of th e present industrial and technical
revolution. Sensitive to the pulsation of social life in the country, they
experim ent w ith language m eans so as to m irror the v ib ratio n of extralinguistic reality .
In every individual style we can find both the general and th e par
ticu lar. The greater the author is, th e m ore genuine his style w ill be. If
we succeed in isolating and exam ining the choices which the w riter pre
fers, we can define w'hat are th e p articu lars th a t m ake up his style and m ake
it recognizable.
At th e sam e tim e the linguist will be able to discern those p o ten tial
ities of language m eans which hitherto were laten t or, at the m ost, used
only occasionally.
The in d iv id u a lity of a wTiter is shown not only in the choice of lex
ical, syntactical and stylistic m eans but also in their treatm ent. 1 It
is really rem arkable how a talented w riter can m ake us feel the way he
w ants us to feel. This co-experience is b u ilt up so subtly th a t the reader
rem ains unaw are of the process. It is still stronger when the aesthetic
function begins to m anifest itself clearly and unequivocally through a
gradual increase in intensity, in the foregrounding of certain features,
rep etitio n s of certain syntactical p atterns and in the broken rhythm of
th e au th o rs mode of n arratin g events, facts and situations.
W hat we here call individual style, therefore, is a unique combina
tion of language units, expressive means and stylistic devices peculiar to
a given writer, which makes that writers works or even utterances
easily recognizable. Hence, individual style m ay be likened to a proper
nam e. It has nom inal character. The analogy is, of course, conventional,
but it helps to understand the uniqueness of the w rite rs idiosyncrasy.
Indiv id u al style is based on a thorough knowledge of the contem porary
language and also of earlier periods in its developm ent.
Indiv id u al style allows certain ju stifiab le deviations from the rig
orous norms. This, needless to say, presupposes a perfect knowledge
of the in v arian ts of the norms.
Indiv id u al style requires to be studied in a course of stylistics in so
far as it m akes use of th e p o ten tialities of language m eans, w hatever
th e character of these p o ten tialities m ay be. B ut it goes w ithout saying
th at each au th o rs style should be a n a ljse d separately, w hich is n a tu
ra lly im possible in a book on general stylistics.

1 Sec also: Victor M . H amm. Meter and Meaning. PMI.A,

17

1. IV" b n "rt 11 rrrl

**"

rtfrvw -i.n-eH

0 r: I .

v.

811 It

.-tf Vh< ,

Selection, or deliberate choice of language, and the ways the chosen

elem ents are treated are the m ain distin ctiv e features of individual style.
The treatm en t of th e selected elem ents brings up the problem of t h e
n o r m . The notion of the norm m ainly refers to the literary language
and alw ays presupposes a r e c o g n i z e d or r e c e i v e d s t a n d
a r d . At th e sam e tim e it likewise presupposes vacillatio n s of the
received standard.
In order to get a w orkable definition of th e norm for the purposes
set in th is book and, p artic u la rly , in connection w ith the issue of in d i
vidual style, it w ill be necessary to go a little b it deeper into th e concept.
W e shall begin w ith the following statem ent m ade by A cadem ician
L. V. Scherba:
Very often when speaking of norm s people forget about stylistic
norms (emphasis added) which are no less, if not more, im portant th an
all others. '
This pronouncem ent clearly indicates th a t there is no universally
accepted norm of th e standard literary language, th a t there are different
norm s and th at there exist special kinds of norm w hich are called sty l
istic norms. Indeed, it has long been acknowledged th a t th e norms of
th e spoken and th e w ritten varieties of language differ in more th an one
respect (see p. 35). Likewise it is perfectly apparent th a t the norm s of
em otive prose and those of official language are heterogeneous Even
w ith in w hat is called the belles-lettres style of language (see p.
33 34) we can observe different norm s between, for instance, poetry and
dram a.
In this connection I. Vachek of th e Prague School of Linguistics
states th a t it is necessary to reject th e possibility of th e existence of an
ab stract, u niversal norm w hich subordinates w ritten and oral norm s in
any of th e n atu ra l languages. 2
The same view is expressed by . A. K. H a llid ay who states:
There is no single universally relevant norm , no one set of expec
tancies to w hich all instances m ay be referred. 3
T his point of view is not, however, to be taken literally . The fact
th a t there are different norm s for various types and styles of language
does not exclude th e possibility and even the necessity of arriv in g at
some abstract notion of norm as an i n v a r i a n t , which should em
brace all v a r i a n t s w ith their m ost ty p ical properties. Each style
of language w ill have its own invariant and v aria n ts (see pp. 3334),
yet all styles w ill have th eir own in v arian t, th a t of th e w ritten
v ariety of language. B oth oral (colloquial) and w ritten (literary) varieties
can also be integrated into an in v arian t of the standard (received) lan
guage.

1 Jl. . . ., 1958, . 1,
. 65.
2 . . .:
. ., 1967, . 530.
3 H alliday, . . . Linguistic Function and L iterary Style. In: L iterary
Style: A Sym posium . Ldn, 1971, p. 314.

18

The norm is regarded by some linguists as a regulator w hich controls

a set of v arian ts, th e borders of v ariatio n s and also adm issible and
inadm issible v aria n ts. (E. A. M akayev)
H ere are some other definitions.
The norm is an assem blage (a set) of stable (i.e. regularly used)
m eans objectively existing in the language and system atically used.
(Gavranek)
A certain conventionally singled out assem blage of re alizatio n s of
language m eans recognized by the language com m unity as a m odel.
(Gukhm an & Semenyuk)
The norm is a linguistic abstraction, an idea thought up by linguists
and existing only in th eir m inds. (A. E . D arbyshire)
There is, of course, no such th in g as the norm to be found in actual
usages. It is a concept w hich m ust be expressed by m eans of a form ula,
and it is a concept about th a t w hich is left of uses of language when all
sty listic q u alities have been taken aw ay from them . (A. E . D arbyshire)
The last of th e definitions elaborates the idea of the norm as som ething
strip p ed of its sty listic qualities. T his is not accidental. M any linguists
hold th e view th a t anything w hich can be labelled sty listic is already
a dev iatio n from th e established norm (see a num ber of the definitions
of sty le given on p. 11). They forget th a t regular deviations from
th e norm g rad u ally establish them selves as v aria n ts of the norm ; the
m ore so because, as has been stated , deviations of a genuinely stylistic
ch aracter are not d ev iatio n s1 bu t typified and foregrounded natural
phenom ena of language usage, though som etim es carried to the extreme.
So, fin ally , we can arrive a t the conclusion th a t the norm presup
poses th e oneness of the m ultifarious. There is a conscious a ttitu d e to
w hat is well-formed against w hat is ill-form ed. W ell-form edness may
be represented in a great num ber of concrete sentences allow ing a con
siderable range of acceptability.
The norm, therefore, should be regarded as the invariant of the pho
nemic, morphological, lexical and syntactical patterns circulating in
language-in-action at a given period of time. V arian ts of these patterns
m ay som etim es diverge from the in v arian t but they never exceed the
lim its set by th e inv ariant lest it should become unrecognizable or m is
leading. The developm ent of any literary language shows th a t the v a
rian ts w ill alw ays centre around the axis of th e in v arian t form s. The
v arian ts, as th e term itself suggests, will never detach them selves from
th e in v arian t to such a degree as to claim entire independence. Yet,
nevertheless, there is a tendency to estim ate the v alue of individual
sty le by th e degree it violates the norm s of the language.
As we have already cited, G. S aintsbury considers th a t the real
secret of style reveals itself in the breach or neglect of the rules
th a t govern the stru cture of clauses, sentences, and paragraphs (see
p. 15). T his conception is ap tly illu strated theoretically in th e Theory
of D eviance m entioned above (p. 15) and practically in th e works of
certain m odern poets like E. E . Cum mings and others w ho try to
1 See also: A . E . Darbyshire. A Gram m ar of Style. Ldn, 1971, p. 186.

19

break away entirely from the established and recognized invariants

and variants-of th e given norm . They introduce various patterns which
are alm ost undecodable and consequently require special devices for
grasping th e m essages.1
Q uite a different point of view is expressed by E . S apir, who states:
" ...th e greatestor shall we say th e most satisfying literary artists,
the Shakespeares and Heines, are those who have known subconsciously
how to fit or trim th e deeper in tu itio n to the provincial accents of th eir
daily speech. In them there is no effect of strain. T heir personal in tu i
tio n appears as a com pleted synthesis of th e absolute a rt of in tu itio n
and th e innate, specialized art of the linguistic m edium . 2
T his idea is common to m any stylicists who hold th a t real and genuine
in d iv id u ality of style w ill reveal itself not in the breach of the rules, in
other words, not in deviating from the accepted norm s, but in the pecul
iar treatm en t of them . However, it m ust be repeated th a t some d evia
tions, if they are m otivated, m ay occur here and there in the tex t. M ore
over, let us repeat once more th a t through constant repetitions such de
v iatio n s m ay become legitim ate v aria n ts of the norm and establish them
selves as m em bers of the language system .
The problem of v aria n ts of the norm , or deviations from the norm
of th e literary language, has received w idespread atten tio n am ong lin
guists and is central to some of the m ajor current controversies. It is
th e inadequacy of th e concept norm th a t causes the controversy. At
every period in th e developm ent of a literary language there m ust be a
tangible norm which first of all m arks the difference between lite ra ry
and n o n-literary language. Then there m ust be a clear-cut distinction
between the in v arian t of the norm (as an abstraction) and its v aria n ts
(in concrete texts). As w ill be seen later alm ost every functional style
of language is m arked by a specific use of language means, thus estab
lishing its own norm s which, however, are subordinated to the normin v arian t and w hich do not violate the general notion of the literary
norm .
One of the most characteristic and essential properties of the norm
is its flex ib ility . A too rigorous adherence to th e norm brands the w rit
e rs language as pedantic, no m atter w hether it is a question of speech
or w'riting. B ut on th e other hand, neglect of the norm will alw ays be
regarded w ith suspicion as being an attem p t to v io late the established
signals of th e language code w hich safeguard and accelerate the process
of com m unication. At the same tim e, a free handling of the norm s m ay
be regarded as a perm issible application of the flex ib ility of the norm.
I t m ust be acknowledged th a t to draw a line of dem arcation between
facts th a t illu strate the flex ib ility of the norm and those w hich show'
its v io latio n is not so easy. The extrem es are apparent, b u t border cases
are blurred. Thus footsteps on the sand of w ar (E. E. Cummings) or
below7 a tim e (see other exam ples on pp. 162 163) are clearly v io la
tions of th e accepted norm s of w ord-building or w ord-com binations.
1 See in this connection a special magazine LOP (Language of Poetry) where a num
ber of articles are devoted to various attem pts to decipher such messages.
2 Sapir, E . Language. N. Y ., 1921, p. 240.

20

But silent th u n d er, the ors and ifs and th e like m ay from one point
of view be regarded as a practical application of the p rinciple of flexi
b ility of th e norm and from another as a violation of th e sem antic
and m orphological norm s of the English language. V ariants interacting
w ith th e rigorous rules of usage m ay reveal the p o ten tialities of the lan
guage for enrichm ent to a degree which no artificial coinage will ever
be able to reach. This can be explained by the fact th a t sem antic changes
and p articu larly syntactical ones are rather slow in process and they
reject any sudden im position of innovations on the code already in action.
T here is a constant process of gradual change taking place in the forms
of langu'age and th eir m eaning at any given period in the developm ent
of th e language. It is therefore m ost im portant to m aster the received
stan d ard of th e given period in th e language in order to com prehend the
correspondence of th is or th a t form to the recognized norm of the period.
Some people th in k th a t one has to possess w hat is called a feeling
for th e language in order to be able to understand th e norm of the lan
guage and its possible varian ts. B ut this feeling is deeply rooted in the
unconscious knowledge of th e laws according to which a language func
tions, and even in its history, w hich explains much concerning the di
rection it has progressed. W hen the feeling of the norm , which grows
w ith the knowledge of the laws of the language, is instilled in the m ind,
one begins to ap p reciate the beauty of justifiable fluctuations.
P aradoxal though it m ay seem, the norm can be grasped, nay, es
tab lish ed only w hen there are deviatjons from it. It is therefore best
perceived in com bination w ith som ething th a t breaks it. In th is connec
tio n the following rem arks m ade by L. V. Scherba are w orth quoting:
" . . . in order to achieve a free com m and of a lite rary language, even
ones own, one m ust read w idely, giving preference to those w riters
who deviate b u t slightly from the norm .
Needless to say, all deviations are to some extent norm alized: not
every existing deviation from the norm is good; at any rate, not in all
circum stances. The feeling for w hat is perm issible and w hat is not, and
m ain ly a feeling for the inner tense of these deviations (and senseless
ones, as has been pointed out, are n atu ra lly bad), is developed through
an extensive study of our great R ussian literatu re in all its variety,
b u t of course in its best exam ples. 1
1 say ju stifiab le or m otivated because bad w riters frequently
m ake use of deviations from th e norm which are not m otivated or ju sti
fied by the subject m atterth a t is why they are considered bad w riters. 2
W hile dealing w ith various conceptions of the term sty le, we m ust
also m ention a com m only accepted connotation of style as e m b e l
l i s h m e n t o f l a n g u a g e . This understanding of style is upheld
in some of the scientific papers on literary criticism . Language and style
as em bellishm ent are regarded as separate bodies. According to th is idea
language can easily dispense w ith style, because style here is likened to
1 JI. . .
. ., 1939, 1, . 10.
a Ibid.

21

the trim m ing on a dress. Moreover, sty le as em bellishm ent of language

is viewed as Something th a t hinders understanding. It is, as it were,
alien to language and therefore needs to be excluded from the observa
tions of language scholars. T hat is why alm ost all contem porary books
on gram m ar and general linguistics avoid problem s of sty le or, at most,
touch upon them in passing. T he notion of style as em bellishm ent pre
supposes th e use of bare language forms deprived of any sty listic de
vices, of any expressive m eans deliberately em ployed. In th is connection
M iddleton M urry writes:
The notion th a t sty le is applied ornam ent had its origin, no doubt,
in th e trad itio n of th e school of rhetoric in Europe, and in its place in
their teaching. The conception was not so m onstrous as it is today. For
the old professors of rhetoric were exclusively engaged in instructing
th eir pupils how to expound an argum ent or arrange a pleading. T heir
classification of rhetorical devices was undoubtedly formal and extrav
ag a n t... The conception of style as applied ornam ent . . . is th e m ost
popular of all delusions about style.1
The notion of style as em bellishm ent of language is com pletely er
roneous. No m atter how style is treated, it is th e product of a w rite rs
delib erate in ten tio n to fram e his ideas in such a m anner as will add some
thin g im p o rtan t, som ething indispensable in order to secure an ade
quate realization of his ideas. To call style em bellishm ent is the same
thin g as to strip it of its very essence, th a t is, to render unnecessary those
elem ents which secure th e m anifold application of the language units.
No doubt there are utterances which contain all kinds of unm otivated
sty listic means. M oreover, th ere are w riters whose style abounds in such
utterances. B ut th ey are either those who, adm iring the form, use it at
th e expense of th e m atter, or those who, by experim enting w ith the po
te n tialitie s of language means, try to find new wrays of rendering their
ideas. In both cases th e reader is faced w ith difficulties in decoding the
message and th is g reatly hinders understanding.
A very popular notion of style am ong teachers of language is th a t
style is t e c h n i q u e o f e x p r e s s i o n . In th is sense sty le is
generally defined as th e ab ility to w rite clearly, correctly and in a m an
ner calculated to interest th e reader. Though th e last requirem ent is
not among th e indispensables, it is still found in m any practical m anuals
of style, most of w hich can be lum ped together under th e title Compo
sition and S tyle. This is a purely u tilita ria n point of view of the issue
in question. If th is w'ere tru e, style could be taught. S tyle in th is sense
of expression studies th e norm alized forms of th e language. The teaching
process aim s at lu cid ity of expression. It sets up a num ber of rules as to
how to speak and w rite well and generally discards all kinds of devia
tions as being vio latio n s of th e norm. T he norm in these works is treated
as som ething self-sustained and, to a very great extent, inflexible.
T he u tilita ria n approach to th e problem is also felt in the following
statem ent by E. J . D unsany, an Irish dram atist and w riter of short
stories:
1 Op. tit., pp. 10 11.

22

W hen you can w ith difficulty w rite anything clearly, sim ply, and
em ph atically , th en , provided th a t th e difficulty is not apparent to the
reader, th a t is style. W hen you can do it easily, th a t is genius.
V. G. B elinsky also distinguished two aspects of style, m aking a
h&rd and fast d istinction between the technical and the c r e a th e power
of any utterance.
To language m erits belong correctness, clearness and fluency, he
states, qu alities w hich can be achieved by any talentless w riter by
m eans of labour and routine.
B ut sty le () is talen t itself, th e very thought. 1
A lm ost the sam e point of view is held both by A. N. Gvozdev and
F. L. Lucas. Gvozdev states th a t S tylistics has a practical value, teach
ing students to m aster th e language, working out a conscious approach
to language 2 and Lucas declares th at the aim s of a course in style are:
a) to teach to w rite and speak well, b) to im prove the style of the w riter,
and c) to show him m eans of im proving his ab ility to express his
id e a s .3
It is im p o rtan t to note th a t w hat we call the practical approach to
th e problem of style should by no m eans be regarded as som ething er
roneous. The practical side of the problem can hardly be over-estim ated.
B ut should it be called style? The ab ility to w rite clearly and em phati
cally can and should be taught. T his is th e dom ain of gram m ar, which
to day ru les out th e laws and means of com position. The notion of style
cannot be reduced to th e merely practical aspect because in such a case
a theoretical background for practical aim s cannot be worked out.
M oreover, stylistics as a branch of linguistics dem ands investigation
into the n atu re of such language m eans as add aesthetic value to the
utterance.
J u s t as th e interrelation between lexicology and lexicography is
accepted to be th a t of theory and practice, so theoretical and practical
sty listics should be regarded as two interdependent branches of linguistic
science. Each of these branches m ay develop its own approach and
m ethods of investigation of linguistic data.
T he term sty le is w idely used in lite ratu re to signify I i t e a
g e n r e . Thus, wre speak of classical style or the style of classicism,
re alistic style, th e style of rom anticism and so on. The use of the word
sty le has som etim es been carried to unreasonable lengths, th u s blurring
th e term inological aspect of the word. It is applied to various kinds of
literary works: th e fable, novel, ballad, story, etc. The term is also
used to denote th e w ay th e plot is dealt w ith, the arrangem ent of the
parts of literary com position to form the whole, th e place and th e rcle
of the au th o r in describing and depicting events.
It is suggested in th is work th a t the term sty le be used to refer to
purely linguistic facts, th u s avoiding th e possible am biguity in its

1 . . 1843 . . ., 1948, . V III, . 396.

2 . . > . ., 1952, . 8.
3 See Lucas, F. L. Style. Ldn, 1962.

23

app lication . A fter all the origin of th e word sty le is a justification for
th e suggestion. However, we are fully aw are of th e fact th a t such a pro
position w ill be regarded as an encroachm ent on th e rig h ts of lite ratu re
to have its own term s in spite of the fact th a t they are th e same as term s
in linguistics.
Now let us pass to th e discussion of an issue th e im portance of w hich
has to be kept clearly in m ind throughout the study of stylistics, th a t is
t h e d i c h o t o m y o f l a n g u a g e a n d s p e e c h or, to phrase
th e issue differently, I a n g a g e-as-a-s s t e m and l a n g u a g e i n - a c t i o n . It deserves at least a cursory discussion here not only
because th e issue has received a good deal of atten tio n in recent p ubli
cations on linguistic m atters, b u t also because, as w ill be seen later,
m any sty listic devices stand out against the background of th e d istinc
tiv e features of these two above-m entioned notions. The sim p licity of
th e issue is to some extent deceptive. On th e surface it seems th a t language-in-action tak es the signs of language-as-a-system and arranges
them to convey th e intended message. B ut th e fact is th a t th e signs of
th e la tte r undergo such transform ations in th e former th a t som etimes
they assum e a new q u ality im posing new significations on the signs of
the language code. T here is com pelling evidence in favour of th e theory
which dem ands th a t th e tw o notions should be regarded in their u n ity ,
allow ing, however, th a t each of them be subjected to isolated obser
v atio n .
Language-as-a-system m ay figuratively be depicted as an exploiter
of language-in-action. All rules and p attern s of language w h ich areco llected and classified in works on gram m ar, phonetics, lexicology and
sty listics first appear in language-in-action, whence they are genera
lized and framed as rules and p attern s of language-as-a-system .
It is im portant here to call atten tio n to the process of form ation of
scientific notions. W henever we notice a phenom enon th a t can be singled
out from a m ass of language facts we give it a nam e, th u s abstracting
the properties of th e phenom enon. The phenom ena then being collected
and classified are hallowed into the ranks of th e u n its of language-as-asystem . It m ust be pointed out th at m ost observations of th e n a tu re and
functioning of language u n its have been m ade on m aterial presented by
th e w ritten v ariety of language. It is due to the fixation of speech in
w ritin g th at scholars of language began to disintegrate th e continuous
flow' of speech and subject the functioning of its com ponents to analysis.
So it is w ith sty listic devices. Being born in speech they have grad
u ally become recognized as certain patternized structures: phonetic,
m orphological, lexical, phraseological and syntactical, and duly taken
awray from th eir m other, Speech, and m ade independent m em bers of
th e fam ily, Language.
The same concerns the issue of functional styles of language. Once
they have been recognized as independent, m ore or less closed subsys
tem s of th e stan d ard literary language, they should be regarded not as
styles of speech but as styles of language, inasm uch as they can be p at
terned as to th e kinds of interrelation between the com ponent parts in
each of the styles. M oreover, these functional styles have been subjected
24

to various classifications, w hich fact shows th at the phenom ena now

belong to th e dom ain of language-as-a-system .
H owever, it m ust constantly be born in m ind th a t th e u n its which
belong to th is dom ain are abstract in th eir nature. F unctional styles
are m erely m odels deprived of m aterial substance, schemes which can
be m aterialized in language forms. W hen m aterialized in language forms
th ey become practical realizations of abstract schemes and signify the
v a ria n ts of th e corresponding in v arian ts of the models.
T his relativ ely new science, stylistics, will be profitable to those
who have a sound linguistic background. T he expressive m eans of Eng
lish and th e sty listic devices used in the literary language can only be
understood (and m ade use of) when a thorough knowledge of the languageas-a-system , i.e. of the phonetic, gram m atical and lexical d ata of the
given language, has been attained.
It goes w ith o u t saying th a t the m ore observant th e student is, the
easier it will be for him to appreciate the peculiar usage of the language
m edia.
Ju stific a tio n for bringing th is problem up is th a t some language
scholars frighten students out of studying stylistics on the ground th at
th is subject m ay effectively be studied only on the basis of a perfect
com m and of th e language. Such scholars, aw are of the v ariables and un
know ns, usu ally try in th eir teaching to sidestep an ything th a t m ay
th reaten w ell-established theories concerning the laws of language. A lert
ness to th e facts of language-in-action should be inherent, but it can be
developed to a degree necessary for an aesthetic evaluation of the works
of m en-of-letters. And for th is purpose it is first of all necessary to get a
clear idea of w hat constitutes th e notions expressive m eans and sty l
istic devices.
2. EXPRESSIVE MEANS (EM) AND STYLISTIC DEVICES (SD)

In linguistics there are different term s to denote p artic u la r means

by which utterances are foregrounded, i.e. m ade more conspicuous,
m ore effective and therefore im parting some ad d itio n al inform ation.
They are called expressive means, stylistic means, stylistic markers,
stylistic devices, tropes, figures of speech and other nam es. All these
term s are used indiscrim inately and are set against those m eans which
we shall conv en tio nally call n e u t r a l . Most linguists distinguish
o rd in ary (also: su b stan tial, referential) sem antic and sty listic differ
ences in m eaning. In fact all language m eans contain m eaningsome
and
of them co ntain generally acknowledged g r a m m a t i c a l
l e x i c a l m e a n i n g s (see p. 58), others besides these contain
s p e c i f i c m e a n i n g s which m ay be called s t y l i s t i c . Such
m eanings go alongside prim ary m eanings and, as it were, are superim
posed on them .
S tylistic m eanings are so to say de-autom atized. As is known, the
process of au to m atization, i.e. a speedy and subconscious use of lan
guage d ata, is one of th e indispensable w ays of m aking com m unication
easy and quickly decodable.
25

B ut when a sty listic m eaning is involved, th e process of de-autom atizatio n checks th e read ers perception of the language. H is atten tio n
is arrested by a peculiar use of language m edia and he begins, to the
best of his ab ility , to decipher it. H e becomes aw are of th e form in which
the utterance is cast and as th e result of th is process a twofold use of
th e language m edium ordinary and sty listic becomes apparent to
him . As will be shown later th is twofold application of language m eans
in some cases presents no difficulty. It is so m arked th a t even a laym an
can see it, as w hen a m etaphor or a sim ile is used. B ut in some texts
gram m atically red undant forms or hardly noticeable forms, essential
for the expression of sty listic m eanings which carry th e p artic u la r addi
tional inform ation desired, m ay present a difficulty.
W hat this inform ation is and how it is conveyed to th e m ind of the
reader can be explored only when a concrete com m unication is subjected
to observation, which will be done later in the analyses of various sty l
istic devices and in th e functioning of expressive means.
In this connection th e following passage from Investigating English
S ty le by D. C rystal and D. D avy is of interest: Features which are
sty listically significant display different kinds and degrees of distincti\ eness in a text: of two features, one m ay occur only tw ice in a tex t,
the other m ay occur th irty tim es,or a feature m ight be uniquely iden
tifying in the language, only ever occurring in one v ariety , as opposed
to a feature which is d istrib u ted throughout m any or all varieties in dif
ferent frequencies. 1
W hat then is a sty listic device? W hy is it so im portant to distinguish
it from th e expressive and neutral m eans of th e language? To answer
these questions it is first of all necessary to elucidate the notion ex
pressiveness.
T he category of e x p r e s s i v e n e s s has long been the subject of
heated discussions among linguists. In its etym ological sense expressive
ness m ay be understood as a kind of intensification of an utterance or
of a p art of it depending on the position in the u tteran ce of the m eans
th at m anifest th is category and w hat these m eans are.
B ut somehow lately th e notion of expressiveness has been confused
with another notion, viz. e m o t i v e n e s s . Em otiveness, and corre
spondingly th e em otive elem ents of language, are w hat reveal the em otions
of w riter or speaker. B ut these elem ents are not direct m anifestations
of th e em otions they are just the echoes of real em otions, echoes w'hich
have undergone some intellectual recasting. They are designed to awaken
^-experience in th e m ind of th e reader.
Expressiveness is a broader notion th a n em otiveness and is by no
m eans to be reduced to th e latter. Em otiveness is an integral p art of
expressiveness and, as a m atter of fact, occupies a predom inant position
in th e category of expressiveness. B ut there are m edia in language which
aim sim ply at logical em phasis of certain p arts of the utterance. They
do not evoke any intellectual representation of feeling but m erely serve
the purpose of verbal actualization of th e utterance. Thus, for exam ple,
1 D avid Crystal and Derek D avy. Investigating English Style. Ldn,

26

1969, p. 21,

w hen we say It was in J u ly 1975 th a t the cosmos experim ent of a jo in t

Am erican-Soviet flight took place we m ake the utterance logically em
p h atic by a syntactical device which will be described in due course.
T he sam e th in g is to be observed in these sentences:
(1) Mr. Sm ith was an extrem ely unpleasant person.
(2) Never w ill he go to th at place again.
(3) In rushed th e soldiers!
(4) It took us a very, very long tim e to get there.
In sentence (1) expressiveness is achieved by lexical m eans the
word extrem ely. In (2) and (3) by syntactical m eans different types
of inversion. In (4) th e em phasis is m aterialized by the re p etitio n of the
word v e ry w hich is in itself a word used to intensify th e utterance.
B ut in th e sentences:
(1) I s n 't she cutel
(2) Fool th a t he was!
(3) T his goddam window w ont open!
(4) W e buddy-buddied together.
(5) T his quickie tour d id n t satisfy our curiosity.
we can register positive em otiveness, inasm uch as there are elem ents
th a t evoke certain representations of th e feeling of the speaker. In sen
tence (1) and (2) there are syntactical m eans which evoke th is effect.
In (3) and (4) there are lexical m eans goddam , buddy-buddied
(= \v e re on v ery friendly relations); in (5) a m orphological device (the
suffix ie).
It m ust be noted th at to draw a hard and fast distinction between
logical and em otional em phasis is no t alw ays possible. The fact is th at
th e logical and th e em otional frequently overlap. A too strong logical
em phasis m ay colour th e u ttera n ce w ith em otional elem ents, th u s causing
a k ind of expressiveness w hich is both logical and em otive. However,
th e extrem es are clearly set one against th e other.
Now it should be possible to define th e notion of expressive m eans. The
expressive means of a language are those phonetic, morphological, wordbuilding, lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms which exist in
language-as-a-system for the purpose of logical and/or emotional in
tensification of the utterance. These intensifying forms, wrought by
social usage and recognized by th eir sem antic function, have been singled
out in gram m ars, courses in phonetics and dictionaries (including phra
seological ones) as having special functions in m aking th e utterances
em phatic. Some of them are norm alized, and good dictionaries label
them as intensifiers. In m ost cases they have corresponding neutral
synonym ous forms. Compare, for exam ple, the following pairs:
(1) H e shall do it! = I shall m ake him do it.
(2) Is n t she cute! = She is very nice, isnt she?
Expressiveness m ay also be achieved b y com positional devices in
u tterances com prising a num ber of sentences in syntactical wholes
and in paragraphs. T his w ill be shown in the chapter on syntactical sty l
istic devices.
T he most powerful expressive m eans of any language are phonetic.
The hum an voice can indicate subtle nuances of m eaning th a t no other
27

m eans can atta in . P itch , m elody, stress, pausation, draw l ng out certain
syllables, w hispering, a sing-song m anner and other ways of using the
voice are m uch m ore effective th an any other m eans in intensifying an
u ttera n ce em otionally or logically. In the language course of phonetics
th e p attern s of em phatic intonation have been worked out, but m any
devices have so far been little investigated.
P aradoxal though it m ay seem, m any of these m eans, th e effect of
which rests on a peculiar use of the voice, are banned from the linguistic
dom ain. B ut there has appeared a new scienceparalinguistics of
which all these devices are the inventory. The w riter of this book holds
th e opinion th a t all the vocal peculiarities enum erated should be recog
nized as legitim ate m em bers of the phonetic stru c tu re of language and
th a t therefore th e term p aralinguistics should be done aw ay w ith.
Professor Seym our C hatm an introduces the term phonostylistics
and defines it as a subject th e purpose of which is the study of the ways
in which an author elects to constrain the phonology of the language
beyond th e norm al requirem ents of the phonetic system . 1 As can be
inferred from th is quotation, phonetic expressive m eans and p artic u
larly phonetic sty listic devices (see p. 123) are not deviations from the
norm al requirem ents of the phonetic system but a way of actualizing
the typical in th e given text. Vocal phenom ena such as draw ling, w hisper
ing, etc. should be regarded as parts of th e phonem ic system on th e sam e
level as pitch, stress and tune.
In th is part of th e book where general ideas are presented in an in
tro d u cto ry aspect only, there is no need to go deeper into the issue of
w hat constitutes th e notion expressive m eans of the phonetic system .
T he reader is referred to p art III P honetic Expressive Means and Sty
listic Devices (p. 123).
Passing over to some prelim inary rem arks on the m o r p h o l o g
i c a l e x p r e s s i v e m e a n s of the English language, we m ust
point to w hat is now a ra th e r im poverished set of m edia to which the
q u ality of expressiveness can be a ttrib u ted . However, there are some
which alongside th eir ordinary gram m atical function display a kind of
em phasis and thereby are prom oted to EMs. These are, for exam ple,
T he H istorical P resent; th e use of shall in the second and third person;
the use of some dem onstrative pronouns w ith an em phatic m eaning as
those, them (Those gold candles fixed in heavens a irShakespeare);
som e cases of nom inalization, p articu larly when conversion of verbal
stem s is alien to th e m eaning of th e verbs or th e nom inalization of phrases
and sentences and a num ber of other m orphological forms, which acquire
expressiveness in th e context, though this capacity is not yet registered
as one of th e latent properties of such forms.
Among th e w o r d - b u i l d i n g m e a n s we find a great m any
forms which serve to m ake the utterance m ore expressive by intensifying
some of their sem antic and or gram m atical properties. The dim inutive

1 Chatman, Seymour. Stylistics: Q u alitativ e and Q u a n tita tiv e . In: Style , vol. 1,
1967, No. 1, p. 34.

28

suffixes - (-ie) , -let, e.g. dearie, sonny, auntie, stream /ei, add
some em otional colouring to th e words. W e m ay also refer to w hat are
called neologisms and nonce-words formed w ith non-productive suffixes
or w ith Greek roots, as m istressmanship, cleanoratna' (see p. 92).
Certain affixes have gained such a power of expressiveness th at they
begin functioning as separate words, absorbing all of th e generalizing
m eaning they attach to different roots, as, for exam ple, isms and ologies.
At th e l e x i c a l l e v e l th ere are a great m any words w hich due
to their inner expressiveness constitute a special layer (see chart on
p. 71). T here are words w ith em otive m eaning only (interjections),
words w hich have both referential and em otive m eaning (epithets),
words which still retain a twofold m eaning: d enotative and connotative
(love, hate, sym pathy), words belonging to th e layers of slang and vulgar
words, or to poetic or archaic layers. The expressive power of these words
cannot be doubted, especially when they are com pared w ith th e neutral
vocabulary.
All kinds of set phrases (phraseological units) generally possess the
property of expressiveness. Set phrases, catch words, proverbs, sayings
com prise a considerable num ber of language u n its w hich serve to m ake
speech em phatic, m ainly from the em otional point of view. Their use
in every-day speech is rem arkable for th e subjective em otional colouring
they produce.
It m ust be noted here th a t due to the generally em otional character
of colloquial language, all kinds of set expressions are n atu ra l in every
day speech. T hey are, as it were, p art and parcel of th is form of hum an
intercourse. B ut when they appear in w ritten texts th eir expressiveness
comes to th e fore because w ritten texts, as has already been pointed out,
are logically directed unless, of course, there is a d elib erate attem pt
to introduce an expressive elem ent in the utterance. T he set expression
is a tim e-honoured device to enliven speech, but th is device, it m ust be
repeated, is m ore sparingly used in w ritten texts. In everyday speech
one can often hear such phrases as: W ell, it will only add fuel to the
fire and th e like, which in fact is synonym ous to the neutral: It will
only m ake th e situ ation worse.
F in ally , at th e s y n t a c t i c a l l e v e l there are m any construc
tions w hich, when set against synonym ous neutral ones, will reveal a
certain degree of logical or em otional em phasis.
In order to be able to distinguish between expressive m eans and
sty listic devices, to which we now pass, it is necessary to bear in m ind
th a t expressive m eans are concrete facts of language. They are studied
in th e respective language m anuals, though it m ust be once again re
gretfully stated th at some gram m arians iron out all elem ents carrying
expressiveness from th eir works, as they consider th is q u ality irrelevant
to th e theory of language.
S tylistics studies th e expressive m eans of language, bu t from a spe
cial angle. It tak es into account th e m odifications of m eanings which
various expressive m eans undergo when they are used in different func
tional styles. Expressive m eans have a kind of ra d ia tin g effect. They
29

noticeably colour th e w hole of th e u ttera n ce no m atter w hether th ey are

logical or em otional.
W hat then is a stylistic device? It is a conscious and intentional
intensification of some typical structural and or semantic property of
a language unit (neutral or expressive) promoted to a generalized status
and thus becoming a generative model. It follows then th at an SD is
an abstract p attern , a m ould into w hich any content can be poured. As
is known, th e typical is not only th a t which is in frequent use, b u t th at
also which reveals th e essence of a phenom enon w ith the greatest and
m ost evident force.
SDs function in texts as m arked units. They alw ays carry some kind
of ad d itional inform ation, either em otive or logical. T hat is why the
m ethod of free v aria tio n employed in descriptive lin g u istics1 cannot
be used in sty listics because any su b stitu tio n m ay cause dam age to the
sem antic and aesthetic aspect of th e utterance.
A. W. D e G root points out th e significance of SDs in th e following
passage:
Each of th e aesth etically relevant features of the tex t serves to create
a feature of th e g e s ta lt2 of th e poem. In th is sense th e relevant linguistic
features m ay be said to function or operate as gestalt factors. 3
T he idea of th e function of SDs is expressed m ost fully by V. M. Zhir
m unsky in th e following passageThe justificatio n and th e sense of each device lies in the wholeness
of th e artistic im pression w hich th e work of a rt as a self-contained thing
produces on us. E ach separate aesthetic fact, each poetical device (em
phasis added) finds its place in th e system , th e sounds and sense of the
w ords, the sy ntactical structures, the scheme of th e plot, th e com posi
tional p urportall in equal degree express th is wholeness and find
ju stificatio n . 4
T he m otivated use of SDs in a genuine work of em otive lite ratu re is
not easily discernible, though they are used in some kind of relatio n
to th e facts, events, or ideas dealt w ith in th e a rtistic message. Most
SDs display an ap p lication of tw o m eanings: th e ordinary one, in other
words, th e m eaning (lexical or structural) w hich has already been estab
lished in th e language-as-a-system , and a special m eaning which is
superim posed on th e u n it by th e te x t, i.e. a m eaning which appears in
th e language-in-action.
Sometimes, however, th e tuo fo ld application of a lexical u n it is
accom plished not by th e in terp lay of tw o m eanings but by tw o words
(generally synonym s) one of which is perceived against th e background
of th e other. T his w ill be shown in subsequent chapters.
1 By free v ariatio n is m eant the substitu tio n of one form by another w ith o u t any
change of meaning.
2 G estalt is a term in psychology which denotes a phenomenon as a whole, a kind
of oneness, as som ething indivisible into com ponent^Jarts. The term has been borrowed
by linguistics to denote the inseparability of the whole of a poetic work.
3 D e Groot A . W. Proceedings of the IX International Congress of L inguists, p. 295.
4 . . . . . ., Academia,
1928, . 354.

30

T he conscious transform ation of a language fact into a sty listic de

vice has been observed by certain linguists whose interests in linguistic
theory have gone beyond the boundaries of gram m ar. Thus A. A. Potebnya w rites:
As far back as in ancient Greece and Rom e and w ith few exceptions
up to th e present tim e, th e definition of a figurative use of a word has
been based on th e contrast between ordinary speech, used in its own,
natu ral, p rim ary m eaning, and transferred speech. 1
The contrast which th e author of the passage quoted points to, can
not alw ays be clearly observed. In some SDs it can be grasped im m ediate
ly; in others it requires a keen eye and sufficient train in g to detect it.
It m ust be em phasized th at th e contrast reveals itself m ost clearly when
our m ind perceives twofold m eanings sim ultaneously. The m eanings
run parallel: one of them tak in g precedence over the other.
Thus in T he night has swallowed him up th e word sw'allow has
two m eanings:
a) referential and b) contextual (to m ake disappear, to m ake vanish).
The m eaning (b) takes precedence over the referential (a).
The sam e can be observed in the sentence: Is there not blood enough
upon your penal code th a t m ore m ust be poured forth to ascend to H eaven
and testify against you? (Byron)
The interrogative form, i.e. th e structural m eaning of a question,
runs parallel w ith th e imposed affirm ative thought, i.e. th e structural
m eaning of a statem ent, and it is difficult to decide w hich of th e two
stru ctu ral m eaningsth e established or the superim posedtakes the
upper hand.
In th e following chapters where detailed analysis of th e different
SDs will be carried out, we shall try , where possible, to consider which
of th e two m eanings realized sim ultaneously outweighs th e other.
The b irth of SDs is a natu ral process in th e developm ent of language
m edia. Language u n its which are used w ith m ore or less definite aim s
of com m unication in various passages of w riting and in various func
tional styles begin gradually to develop new features, a w ider range of
functions, th u s causing polyfunctionality. H ence they can be presented
as in v arian ts w ith concrete variables.
The in terrelatio n between expressive m eans and sty listic devices
can be worded in term s of th e theory of inform ation. Expressive m eans
have a greater degree of p re d ictab ility th a n stylistic devices. The latter
m ay appear in an environm ent which m ay seem alien and therefore be
only slig h tly or not at all predictable. Expressive m eans, on th e con
tra ry , follow1 th e n atu ra l course of thought, intensifying it by means
com m only used in language. It follows th a t SDs carry a greater am ount
of inform ation and therefore require a certain effort to decode their
m eaning and p u rport. SDs m ust be regarded as a special code which has
to be well known to th e reader in order to be deciphered easily.
T he notion of language as a special code is now very m uch practised
in th e analyses of th e functions of language un its. E. S tankievicz sees
1 . . . , 19 0 5 , . 204.

31

a kind of code-switching when SDs are em ployed. H e also acknowledges

th e twofold ap p lication of the language code when " . . . the neutral,
basic code se r\e s as the background against which the elem ents of an
other system acquire expressive prom inence w ithin the context of the
basic system * SDs are used sparingly in em otive prose, lest they should
overburden th e tex t w ith im plications th u s hindering th e process of de
coding. They are abundantly used in poetry and especially so in some
trends of poetical trad itio n , consequently retarding m ental absorption
of th e c o n te n t.3
Not every sty listic use of a language fact will come under the term
SD, although some usages call forth a sty listic m eaning. T here are prac
tic a lly unlim ited possibilities of presenting any language fact in w'hat
is vaguely called its stylistic use. For a language fact to be prom oted
to th e level of an SD there is one indispensable requirem ent, which has
alread y been m entioned above, viz. th a t it should so be used to call
forth a twofold perception of lexical or and structural m eanings. Even
a nonce use can and very often does create the necessary conditions for
th e appearance of an SD. B ut these are only the prerequisites for the
appearance of an SD. O nly when a new ly m inted language u n it w'hich
m aterializes th e twofold application of m eanings occurs repeatedly in
different environm ents, can it spring into life as an SD and subsequently
be registered in th e system of SDs of the given language.
Therefore it is necessary to distinguish between a sty listic use of a
language u n it, w hich acquires w hat we call a stylistic m eaning, and a
sty listic device, which is the realization of an already well-know n ab
stract scheme designed to achieve a particu lar artistic effect. Thus m any
facts of English gram m ar are said to be used w ith sty listic m eaning,
for exam ple, th e m orphological expressive m eans m entioned on p. 28.
B ut most of them have not yet been raised to th e level of SDs because
they rem ain unsystem atized and so far perceived as nonce uses. They
are, as it were, still w andering in the v ic in ity of th e realm of SDs w ithout
being adm itted into it. This can indirectly be proved by the fact th a t
they have no special nam e in the English language system of SDs. An
exception, perhaps, is the H istorical Present u'hich meets the requirem ents
of an SD.
So far th e system of stylistic devices has not been fully recognized
as leg itim ate m em bers of the general system of language. This is m ainly
due to the above-m entioned conception of gram m atical theory as dealing
exclusively w ith a perfectly organized and extrem ely rigid scheme of
lan g u ag e rules, precise and accurate in its application.
3. GENERAL NOTES ON FUNCTIONAL STYLES OF LANGUAGE

W e have defined the object of linguo-stylistics as th e study of the

natu re, functions and structure of SDs and EMs, on the one hand, and
th e stu d y of th e functional styles, on the other. In section 2 of th is In1 Stankievicz, E . Problem s of E m otive Language. In: Approaches to Semiotics.
The H ague, 1964, p. 246.
2 F or a m ore detailed analysis of the inform ation carried by SDs see . P.
( , ., 1974.

32

troduction (p. 25) we have outlined the general principles on which the
notions of EMs and SDs rest.
O t is now' tim e to outline the general principles on which functional
styles rest. A functional style of language is a system of in te rre la te d )
language m eans which serves a definite aim in com m unication. A functional style is th u s to be regarded a s j h e product .of a certain concrete
task set by th e sender of fhe message. F unctional styles appear m ainly
in the literary stan d ard of a la n g u a g e .j
T he literary stan d ard of the English language, like th a t of any other
developed language, is not so homogeneous as it m ay seem. In fact the
standard English literary language in the course of its developm ent has
fallen into several subsystem s each of which has acquired its own pecul
iarities w hich are ty p ical of the given functional style. The m em bers
of the language com m unity, especially those who are sufficiently trained
and responsive to language variations, recognize these styles as indepen
dent wholes. The peculiar choice of language m eans is prim arily predeter
mined by th e aim of th e com m unication w ith the result th at a m ore or
less closed system is b u ilt up. One set of language m edia stands in op
position to other sets of language m edia w ith other aim s, and these other
sets have other choices and arrangem ents of language means.
,'"W hat we here call functional styles are also called r e g i s t e r s
or d i s c o u r s e s .
In th e English literary standard we distinguish the following m ajor
functional styles (hence FS):
1) T he language of belles lettres.
2) The language of^publicistic literature.
3) The language of newspapers.
4) T he language of scientific prose.
5) The language of official docum ents:
TA s has already been m entioned, functional styles are the product of
the developm ent of the w ritten v arie ty of lan g u ag e.^E ach FS m ay be
characterized by a num ber of distin ctiv e features, leading or subordi
nate, constant or changing, obligatory or optional. Most of the FSs,
however, are perceived as independent wholes due to a peculiar com bi
nation and interrelatio n of features common to all (especially when
takin g into account syntactical arrangem ent) w ith th e leading ones of
each FS.
Each FS is subdivided into a num ber of substvles. These represent
v arieties of th e abstract invariant. Each v ariety has basic features com
mon to all th e v arieties of the given FS and peculiar features typical of
th is v ariety alone. Still a substyle can, in some cases, deviate so far
from th e in v arian t th at in its extrem e it m ay even break aw'ay.
1 This does not m ean, however, th at the spoken com m unications lack individuality
and have no distinct styles of their own. Folklore, for example, is undoubtedly a func
tional style inasm uch as it has a definite aim in com m unicating its facts and ideas, and
is therefore characterized by a deliberately chosen language means. Here we shall con
fine our atte n tio n to the study of the functional styles bred w ithin the literary w ritten
standard. Those types of literatu re which began life purely as speech, were passed on by
word of m outh, subsequentlv perpetuated in w riting, are left to the care of specialists
in folklore.

<

Wc clearly perceive the follow iiig 'su b sty lcs of the five FS^ given
above.
T h e b e l l e s - l e t t r e s F S has the follow ing substyles:
a) the language style of poetry; b) the language style of em otive
prose; c) th e language style of dram a.
The p u b l i c i s tic
F S com prises the following substyles:
a) th e language style of oratory; b) the language style of essays;
c) th e language sty le of feature articles in new spapers and journals.
T h e n e w s p a p e r F S falls into a) the language style of brief
news item s and com m uniques; b) the language style of newspaper head
ings and c) th e language style of notices and advertisem ents.
T h e s c i e n t i f i c p r o s e F S also has three divisions: a) the
language stv le of h u m an itarian sciences; b) the language style of exact
sciences; c) th e language style of popular scientific prose.
T h e o f f i c i a l d o c u m e n t F S can be divided into four
varieties: a) th e language style of diplom atic docum ents; b) the language
sty le of business docum ents; c) the language sty le of legal docum ents;
d) th e language style of m ilitary docum ents.
T he classification presented here is by no m eans arb itra ry . It is the
result of long and m inute observations of factual m aterial in which not
only p eculiarities of language usage were taken into account but also
ex tralinguistic d ata, in particu lar th e purport of the com m unication.
However, we adm it th a t th is classification is not proof against criticism .
O ther schemes m ay possibly be elaborated and highlighted by different
approaches to th e problem of functional styles. The classification of FSs
is not a sim ple m atter and any discussion of it is bound to reflect more
th an one angle of vision. Thus, for exam ple, some sty 1icists consider
th at newspaper articles (including feature articles) should be classed
under the functional style of newspaper language, not under the language
of publicistic literatu re. O thers insist on including th e language of every
day-life discourse into the system of functional styles. Prof. Budagov
singles out only two m ain functional styles: the language of science and
th at of em otive lite ra tu re .1
It is inevitable, of course, th at any classification should lead to some
kind of sim plification of the facts classified, because item s are consid
ered in isolation. M oreover, substyles assume, as it were, the aspect
of closed systems. B ut no classification, useful though it m ay be from
th e theoretical point of view, should be allowed to blind us as to the
conventionality of classification in general. W hen analysing concrete
texts, we discover th at the boundaries between them som etim es become
less and less discernible. Thus, for instance, th e signs of difference are
som etim es alm ost im perceptible between poetry and em otive prose;
between new spaper FS and publicistic FS; between a popular scientific
article and a scientific treatise; between an essay and a scientific article.
But th e extrem es are apparent from the ways language u n its are used
both stru ctu ra lly and sem antically. Language serves a variety of needs
1 See: P . . . ., 1967; Risel, .
S tilistik der D eutschen Sprache. ., 1959.

34

and these needs have given birthvto the principles on which our classifi
cation is based and which in their tu rn presuppose the choice and com
b in atio n of ^language means.
W e presum e th a t the reader has noticed the insistent use of the ex
pression language sty le or sty le of language in the above classifica
tion. T his is done in order to em phasize the idea th a t in th is work the
word sty le is applied purely to linguistic data.
T he classification given above to our m ind adequately represents
the facts of the standard English language. For detailed analyses of FSs
see chapter VI of th is book (p. 249), where in addition to argum ents for
placing th is or th a t FS in a given group, illustrations w ith com m entary
w ill be found.
_
4. VARIETIES OF LANGUAGE

h ' T * , V*

T he functioning of the literary language in various spheres of hum an

ac tiv ity and w ith different aim s of com m unication has resulted in its
differentiation. T his differentiation is predeterm ined by tw o distinct
factors, nam ely, th e Actual .situ a tio n in which the language is being _
used and the aim of the com m unication.
The actu al situ ation of the com m unication has evolved two varie^/ir e s o flan g u ag e t l i e s p o k e n and t h e w r i t t e n . T he varying
a F L aim s of th e com m unication have caused the lite rary language to fall
n) f> into a num ber of sclf-suffid e n t system s (func lonal styles of language).
1
Of th e two v arieties of language, diachronically th e spoken is p ri
m ary and ih e w ritten is secondary. Each of these varieties has developed
t
its own features and qualities w hich-in m ^ny ways m ay be regarded as
opposed to each other.
[ jtL^F -546 I
T he situ atio n in which the spoken v arie ty of language is used ^ ^
jf vvh ic lf it develops, 15151151 as~the presencg~ohan
loculor. Lhe wi iTTen v arietyj on th e contrary, .presuThoses the apsence
6f~aTr4nterlocutor7 th e SDokerTlanpTiape is m ain tained in the form of
<2 a dialogu^ i h e w rittg p jn the jo rm of a m onologue^T he spoken language
^ h j y~a~7bnsiderahle a a \ an?a6c' over the w r itte n rin t l p t th e hum an vo ice
jV ycomes into p la y . T his is a power!uT m eans of m odulating th e utterance.
V
as are all kinds orgestures.xw hich, togeJt)ier~vvith,the into n atio n , give
^
addjtTonal Til form
ToT*, e yijA j
T he w ritten language has to seek m eans to com pensate for w hat it. j^J j '
lacks."T herefore the w ritten utterance will in ev itab ly
_____
. ' be more
j?.more explan atory. In other words, i ~4i cdu e an enlaFged"repre
sentatio n of the com m unication m^order to be exp licit enough.
'T h e T o rm so f the w ritten languagereplace those of the spoken language
when d issem in ation of ideas is the purpose in view. It is the w ritten
variety^nf language w ith its careful organization and deliberate choice
of words and construction th at can have p olitical, cultural and educa
tional influence on a wide and scattered public.
,
In th e long process of its functioning, th e w ritten language has ac
q u ired its own characteristic feature: em anating from the need to am
plify th e utterance, whictiTs
Hal p o h l in the wriUeii language.
2*

35

T he gap between th e spoken and w ritten varieties of language, wider

or narrower, at different periods in the developm ent of the literary lan
guage, w ill alw ays rem ain apparent due to the d ifference in ciixum stances
in which the two are used. H ere is amCxample showing the difference.
M arvellous beast, a fox. G reat places for wild life, these wooded
chines; so steep you can t disturb them pigeons, jays, woodpeckers,
ra b b its, foxes, hares, pheasantsevery m ortal thing.
Its w ritten counterpart would run as follows: W h#t a m arvellous
beast a fox is! These wooded chines are splendid places for wild life.
They are so steep th at one cant disturb anything. Therefore one can see
every im aginable creature herepigeons, jays, woodpeckers, rab b its,
foxes, hares and p heasants.
The use of the peculiarities of the spoken v arie ty in the w ritten la n
guage, or vice versa, the peculiarities of the w ritten language in liv p ly
speech, will alw ays produce a ludicrous effect. In this connection
A. S. P ushkin wrote:
The w ritten language is constantly being enlivened by expressions
born in conversation but m ust not give up w hat it has acquired in the
course of centuries. To use the spoken language only, m eans not to know
th e language. 1
It m ust be borne in mind that in th e belles-lettres style there m ay
appear eh m cn ts of colloquial language (a form of the spoken variety),
b u t it will always be stylized to a greater or lesser degree by the w riter.
The term belles-lettres itself suggests th e use of 4-he w ritten language.
^ Thc~spok.en-lanffiage. Jiv its very n atu re is spontaneous, m om entary.
fleetin g . It vanishes after having fulfilled its purpose, which is to com
m unicate a thought, no m atter w hether it is triv ial or really im portant.
T he idea rem ains, the language dissolves in it. The w ritten language.
nn th e contrary, lives together w ith th e idea it expresses.
A tru stw orthy observation on the difference between the spoken and
w ritten v arieties of language is m ade by Prof. A rchibald A. H ill in his
An A nalysis of The W indhover.
O rdinary speech is ephemera 1^. m eant t oJae reacted to and forgotten.
. . .chains_jn speech, t herefore, work mostly forwartT'and over a fairly
short span. In T ite rature they can a ls o work backw ard an d -th ere can be
m o retn a n ~ o n e chain T unning atV TTm eT~so th a t a hiveri item can have
one m eaning" in one span, a different one in a second. 2'
T h e spoken language cannot be~TletacHed f r o m 't he user of it. the
speaker\_who is_unable_tp view it from th e outside. T h e w ritten language,
on th e contrary, can be detached from th e w riter, enabling him to look
upon his utteran ce obi eHIvthwlaarhgi vTn g hi rn th e on p er-unity to correct
and improve" w hat has been put on paper. T hatA ^Ivh is saicrth at the
w ritidnTm puage-b ears a greatpr vol iim elof responsib ility than its spoken
counterpart.
___
^

The spoken v arie ty differs from the w ritten language (that is, in. its
w ritten representation) phonetically, m orphologically, lexically and
1 . . . . 12, . 9G.
2 In PMLA, v. L X X , No. 5. p. 97C.

36

sy n ta c tic a lly jT h u s, of m orphological form s th e spnkpn language common- /

17 j i s e s ^ntracteTTTortTis. as hed M he wonldT shes (she isT pT d V e /( /|
(Uvvou 1o n av ) t m ust ^ we touch upon the differences' v
between the"Two varieties of the English language w ithin standard
(literary) English. However, some forms of the'vernmtair")d m ake their
way in to the oral (s p o k e n )^ a o e j^ xjf^tandarTT Englisfu They are, as
it were, on the way to info the standard. Such are, for
exam ple, th e use of d o n't instead of doesn't, as in I t s a wonder his
father d o n 't tak e him in his ban k (Dreiser); he instead of him , as in I
used to play tennis w ith he and Mrs. A ntolini (Salinger); I says, a in 't
(instead of am not, is not, are not), them instead of these or those, as in
Them 's some of your chaps, a in t they? (Tressell); L eg g o = '\et go,
helloua hell of a and others.
j
These m orphological and phonetic peculiarities are som etimes r e - ' *
garded as v iolations of gram m ar rules caused by a certain carelessness p k
which accom panies the quick tem po of^coH oquiarspeecK) or an excited
state of m ind. O thers are typical of territo ria l or social dialects. The
following passage is illu stra tiv e in th is respect:
Mum, I ve asked a young lady to come to tea tom orrow. Is th at
all rig h t?
You done w hat? asked Mrs. S unbury, for a m om ent forgetting
her gram m ar.
You heard, m um . (Maugham)
Some of these im proprieties are now recognized as being legitim ate
forms of colloquial English. Thus, Prof. H. W hitehall of Indiana U ni
versity now adm its th a t C olloquial spoken English often uses them
as the plural form of this and that, w ritten English uses these and those.
Them men have arriv ed . 1
The most striking difference h e tween.the spoken and w ritten language Jl
is, however^ in th e vocabulary used. There aretwofds and phrases t v n i - . ,
call colloquial, on th e one hand, and typically bookish, on the o ther.
T his problem w ill be dealt w ith in detail in the.next chapter. Such w ords
and phrases as sloppy , to be gone on som ebody ( = fo be violently
in loYevvith); 1 tak e it (= I understand); a sort of; to hob-nob w ith
( = t o be very fam iliar with) and others Im m ediately m ark the u tte rance
-jaybeing colloquial^ t h a t j s . belonging to the spoken vprietv of language.
jtfn ev a re ^ a re lv u ^ c f t i n the a u th o rs n arrativ e unless special s ty lis ti
aim< are Pursued./W hen .set against nrdinarv~neutril w'ords or l iterarybookish wrnl.s and expressions, they produce a m arked sty listic effect.
H ere is an example:
He says you were struck o ff the rolls for som ething.
Removed from the R egister' is the correct expression, placidly
interrupted the doctor. (Maugham)
,---------------- *----- >.
H ere are some m ore exam ples of present-day.colloquial phrases w hich
are gaining ground in standard English but which are s tro n g ly ie lt to
1 W hitehall, H . S tru c tu ra l E ssen tials of E nglish. N . Y ., 1956, p. 104.

37

be colloquial: H ow com e? (= W h y ? How does th at happen?), W hat

tim e do y o u m ake it? , so much th e b e tte r, to be up to som ething,
to b u d d y -buddy together ( = t < ^ & J ^ n d s ) .
[ .O U ^
The ^nnken la ngnaga-niaLes amjU e u se of intensifying \yords./T hese
are interjections and words wit h strong em otive m eaning, as oathsj'sw ear-/
"'w ords and adjectives which n a v e lo s t th eir prim ary m eaning and onhv
Herve tfuTpurpose of intensifying the em otional charge o F th e utterance.
H ere are some exam ples:
I d sure like to hear some m ore about them people. (Don Gordon)
In fact, you ought to be darn glad you went to B urtingam e. (L. Ford)
H e p u t m y goddam paper dow n... (Salinger)
The words here and th ere are also used to reinforce the dem on
strativ e pronouns, as in:
If I can get a ta lk w ith this here se rv a n t... said W eller.
T h a t there food is good.
J ^ T s this 'ere (here) hall (all) youve done? he shouts out.
nfl T b pVp is another characteristic feature of colloquial language, namey f T t he insertion into the utterance of words w ithout any m eaning,
which are appropriately called fill-ups or em pty w ords, lo some ex
ten t they give a touch of com pleteness to the sentence U used at the end
of it or, if used in the m iddle, help the speaker to fill the gap when unable
to find th e proper word. Illu strativ e is the use of and a ll in H oldens
speech in Salingers novel The C atcher in the R ye. H ere are some
exam ples:
She looked so dam n nice, the way she kept going around and around
in her b lu e coat and all.
.. splendid and clear-thinking and all."
. . he is m y brother and all.
Such words and set expressions as well, so to say, you see, you know,
you understand, and all, as well as w hat m ay be called m um bling words
like rn-m, er-r, also belong to the category_oHjJ.l-&Th -cvntppfiral peculiarities of the spoken language are perhaps
not so strik in g as"trie lexical ones, but m ore than any other features they
reveal th e tru e n atu re of the spoken v ariety of language, th at is, the s it
u ational character of th e com m unication.,
T he first of them is w hat is erroneously c a lle d ,ellipsis, th at is, the
y i m i ^ io n of parts of th e utterance easily supplied by the situation in
which th e com m unication takes place. These are in fact not omissions,
J-inTTTie regular absence of parts unnecessary in lively conversation when
t h e r e are two or more people sneaking. H ere are some~absolutely norm al
and leg itim ate constructions w hich have m issing elem ents in the spoken
language, elem ents which aie, however, indispensable in th e w ritten
language:
Tell
W ho
Care
Ever
J u s t

you w h at.
you w ith? (Who are you w ith?)
to hear m y ideas about it?
go back to E ngland?
doing a short storj to kill the tim e.

 - feature is the tendency to use the direct word-order in gues_ilinnsf)r om it th e au x iliary verb, leaving it to the intonation to indicate
J h e gram m atical m eaning of the sentence, for example:
Scrooge knew M arley was dead? (Dickens)
M iss H olland look after you and all th at?
-Unfinished sentences are also typical of the spoken language, fnr
exam ple, it you behave like th at i ll.. .
There is a sy ntactical structure \H th a tautological subject which
is also considered ch aracteristic of colloquial English It is a construction in which two subjects are used where one is sufficient reference.
U sually they are noun and pronoun, as in:
He was a kind boy, H a rry.'
Helen, she was there. Ask h e r.
In the spoken language it is very natu ral to have a . s t r ing of sen
tences w ithout an \ connections or linked w ith and, th at servant of all
w ork,- for exam ple:
Came home late. H ad supper and went to bed. C ouldnt sleep,
of course. The evening had been too much of a s tra in .
It has already been pointed out th a t the spoken variety of language
is far more e m o t io n a l t h a n it s c o u n t e r p a r t - due m ainly to the advan
tage the hum an voice suppliesT T his em oti\eness of colloquial language
has produced a num ber of syntactical structures which so far have been
little investigated and the m eaning of which can h ard ly be discerned
w ithout a proper intonation design. H ere are some of them:
Isn t she cute!
D ont you tell me th a t.
A w itch she is!
And d id n t she come over on the same boat as myself!
H e fair beats me, does Jam es!
Clever girl th a t she is!
You are telling m el
There you have the m an!
Som ebody is going to touch you w ith a broom stick!
The ch aracteristic sy n tactical features of t he^w ritten variety of lan
guage can easily be perceived by the student of language. As the situ a
tion m ust be made clear by the context, the utterance becomes more
exact. T h a t m e a n s t h e r e l a t i o n s h etu e n the part of the utterance
ust be pre ise. Henqe the abundance of all kinds of conjunctions, arl-^
verbial phrases and ther
e n
h'
may serve as connective . As
someone has said, a clear w riter is alw ays conscious of a reader over
his shoulder. H e m ust explain. Most of the connecting words were evolved
in the w ritten language and for the m ost p art are used only there. Such
connectives as moreover) furtherm ore, likewise, sim ilarly, nevertheless
on the contrary, however, presently, eventually, therefore, in connection

w ith, hereinafter, henceforth, have a decidedly bookish flavour and are

seldom used in ordinary conversation.
Another syntactical feature of the w ritten language is its use^of*
rnm plicafpfl sen tence-i m ils. The w ritten language prefers hypotaxis
to parataxis; long periods are more frequent than short utterances.
. The monologue character of the w ritten language forcibly dem ands
logical coherence of the ideas expressed and, thg breaking of the u tte r
ance into observable spans; hence un its like the supra-piirasal unit
and the paragraph (see pp. 193 198).
The words and vvord-combinations of the w ritten language have
also gained recognition as a separate layer of the English vocabulary.
R ichard D. A ltick, Prof. of English a t the OMo S ta te U niversity, calls
m any phrases th at tend to be bookish space-wasters. These are despite
the fact ( although): in. the m atter o f ( aboutk a long period o f time
( = a long tim e); in the capaciti/ of ( as); r e s e ttlin g in nature ( = like);
reach a decision ( = decide); inet with the approval of Jones (= Jo n es
"approved); announced Himself to be in favour of ( = said he tavoured)
and others. However, these space-wasters cannot always, be so easily
dispensed w ith, and Prof. A ltick seems not to take into consideration
th e su b tle difference in m eaning carried by such pairs as in the capacity
o f and as, resembling in nature and like. O f course, there are the hightalkers" who frequently over-indulge in bookishness of expression, thus
causing a natu ral protest on the part of ordinary readers. J. D. Adams,
an Am erican linguist and critic, gives an exam ple of such over-bookishness from an Academy of Science report:
The evolution of an optim um scientific payload will require
a continuing dialogue am ong all potential investigators and the
engineers responsible for im plem enting their scientific goals.
Then he gives w hat he calls a possible tran slatio n :
F inding the rig h t cargo will require continuing conferences
of those working on the project-. 1
It is w orthy of note th a t most of the ridicule poured on the bookish
language used by different w riters is concentrated on the vocabulary.
L ittle or no mockery is made of the syntactical pattern, even though
/in the long ru n it is th is feature th a t has as great a weight a s any of the
p o t h e r s in distinguishing the w'ritten from the spoken lan g u ag e ^ T li| svn. ta rtic a j s t r u c t u r e , no m atter how com plicated it ma v be.^mrefem'J ihe
,| essen tial difference between the two v arie ties of langnapeT and is_ac7 cepted w ithout question. Any~synta c tic a F p attern of the w ritten varie
ty wiLLalways-^liow tbe i^ rjy lap fflh T te tw eirT the p m f / a L th a, u tte r
ance, so there i s n o th ing ' & the reader in grasping r
u hole.
This is t h e case" wntTT^irrise w ritin g s
"
WiTfT repard t o poe try . thi~sItuation is somewh at different^ R ecent
re s e rv a tions on th e p e e u lia d ties~oT the Tanguage~of modern English and
American p o e tr u in i w -proved ! h a t it is m a i n l y / he breach of sy n tacti
cal laws th at hinders understanding t o a 3 e g r e e th a t thg message be

------------

1 Speaking of Books . The N. Y . Tim es Book Review, March 29, 49^4.

V
40

comes undecodable. Coheren e and logical u n ity backed u p b y purely

linguistic means is therefore aif"essent ijil property .of the w ritten variety
of language

~ The bookish. vocabulary, one of t he notab le p r o p e r ties of_the w rit

ten language, m ay, on the. contrary, go beyond the grasping^pow ers of
even the m ost in telligent reader an d m ay very freq u en tly n eed " inter
pretatio n .
5. A B RIEF OUTLINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
L IT ER A R Y (STANDARD) LANGUAGE

Up till now we have done little more than m ention the literary (stand
ard) language, which is one of the most im portant notions in stylistics
and general linguistics. It is now necessary to elu cid ate this linguistic
notion by going a little deeper into w hat constitutes the concept and
to trace th e stages in th e developm ent of the English stan d ard language.
This is necessary in order to avoid occasional confusion of term s d iffe r
en tly used in works on the history, lite ratu re and style of the English
language.
Confusion betweeft the term s literary language and language of
literatu re is >frequently to be met.
Liteirarv language is a h isto rical category. It exists as a variety of
the natio n al language.
I t m ust be rem em bered, said A. M. G orki, th at language is
the creation of th e people. The division of the language into lite r
ary and vernacular only m eans th a t there are, as it were, a rough
unpolished tongue and one wrought by m en-of-letters. 1
The literary language is th a t elaborated form (variety) of the national
language which obeys definite m orphological, phonetic, sy n tactical,
lexical, phraseological an d sty listic n o rm s2 recognized as standard and
therefore acceptable in all kinds and types of discourse. It allows m odi
fications but w ith in th e fram e work of the system of established norms.
It casts out some of th e forms of language which are considered to be
beyond the established norm . The norm of usage is established by the
language co m m u n ity a t every given period in the developm ent of the
language. It is ever changing and therefore not infrequently evasive.
At ev e ry period th e norm is in a state of fluctuation and it requires
a very sensitive and efficient eye a n d ear to detect and specify these fluc
tuatio n s. Som etim es we m ay even say th at two norm s co-exist. B ut
in th is case we m ay be positive th a t one of th e co-existing forms of the
language w ill give way to its riv al and eith er vanish from the language
en tire ly or else rem ain on its outskirts.
In th is connection it will not come am iss to note th at there are two
conflicting tendencies in the process of establishing the norm:
I)
preservation of th e already existing norm , som etim es w ith attem p ts
to re-establish old forms of the language;
1 . . ., 1937, . 220.
* For th e definition of the norm and its varian ts see pp. 18 19.

41

2) introduction of new norm s not yet firm ly established.

In this connection it will be interesting to quote the following lines
from H. C. W y ld s A H istory of Modern C olloquial E nglish.
If it were necessary to attem p t to form ulate the general ten
dencies which have been discernible in Received S tan d ard E ng
lish during the last three centuries and a half, and which have been
increasingly potent during the last hundred and fifty years, we
should nam e two, which are to some extent opposed', but both
of which are a ttrib u ta b le to social causes. The first is the gradual
decay of ceremoniousness and form ality which has overtaken the
speech and modes of address, no less th an the m anners, of good so
ciety. The second of the effortsom etim es conscious and deliberate,
som etim es unconsciousafter correctness or correctitude, which,
on the one hand, has alm ost elim inated the use of oaths and has soft
ened aw ay m any coarsenesses and crudities of expressionas we
should now feel them to be, however little squeam ish we m ay be
while on the other it has, by a rigid appeal to the spellingthe
very w orst and most unreliable court for the purpose definite
ly ruled o u t, as incorrect or slipshod or vulgar, m any pro
nunciations and gram m atical constructions which had arisen in
the n atu ral course of the developm ent of English, and were
form erly universal am ong the best speakers. B oth of these ten
dencies are due p rim arily to the social, political and economic
events in our h is to ry .. . .
These social changes have inevitably brought w ith them cor
responding changes in m anners and in speech... but the speech and
habits of a lifetim e are not changed in a m om ent, ds a vesture.
Much of the old rem ains, and slowly and im perceptibly the new
comers react upon their environm ent, alm ost as much as they
are influenced by it. Thus, for instance, it is suggested th at the
M iddle Class P u rita n ideals have g rad u ally brought about a greater
reticence of expression and a more tem perate use of expletives, and
also a greater sim plicity of m anners, from which m any of the airs
and graces of the older order were elim inated. Again, a highly cul
tiv ated and in tellectual section of the M iddle Class have played
a prom inent part in Church and S ta te since the tim e of E lizabeth.
We see under th at monarch a generation of courtiers, statesm en, and
prelates, who were also scholars, and even some w ho... were
educational reform ers and w riters upon language, as w'ell as
statesm en. The influence of these learned courtiers w'ould be in
the direction of correctness and elegance of utterance, in opposi
tion to the more careless and unstudied speech of the mere men
of fashion. 1
It is in terestin g to note th at much of w hat was considered a viola
tion of th e norm in one period of the d e\elo p m en t of a language be
1 Uyld, . A H istory of Atodern Colloquial English. Ldn, 1935, pp. 18 19.

42

comes acknowledged and is regarded as perfectly norm al in another pe

riod. M any words and constructions which were once considered illit
erate have become literary. And no effort was spared to ban innova
tions, p articu larly in the sphere of vocabulary, by the purists of any
given period. But m ost of their efforts were in vain. The people, who are
the only lawgivers of the language, g radually accepted changes in all
language levels and in vocabulary.
There is no hard and fast division between the literary and non-literary language. They are interdependent. The literary language constant
ly enriches its vocabulary and forms from the inexhaustible resources
of the vernacular. It also adopts some of its syntactical peculiarities
and by so doing gives them the status of norm s of the literary language.
Thus selection is th e most typical feature of the literary language. The
process of sele'cting and ad m ittin g lexical or m orphological forms in
to the literary language is not a conscious effort on the part of schQlars. It is rath er a re lu c tan t concession than a free and deliberate selec
tion. W hen a linguistic item circulating in the non-literary language
gains adm ission in to the sacred precincts of the literary language, it
is m ostly due to the conscious choice of the m an-of-letters, who finds
eith er an aesthetic value in the given unit, or some other m erit th at will
ju stify its recognition as a lawful mem ber of the literary language.
This, however, is not the case w ith structural units. As the national
language is the creation of the people as a whole, m orphological and
syntactical changes which g radually and im perceptibly take place in
their speech from one generation to another, cannot fail in the long
run to en ter the literary language. M en-of-letters not only w rite the lan
guage, they also speak it and in most cases ju st like any one of their
countrym en.
Newly-coined words, or neologisms, as they are called, which are
created according to the productive models of w ord-building in the
given language do not go beyond the boundaries of the lite rary norms.
If a new ly-coined word is understood by the com m unity, it m ay become
a fact of the lite rary language. But the literary language casts off any
form th a t is unrecognizable. The developm ent of the lite rary lan
guage is governed by its own laws. It is highly resistant to innova
tions of speech.
The English literary language was p articu larly regulated and for
m alized during th e seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The influ
ence of the m en-of-letters on this process can hardly be over-estim ated.
Some of them , none the less, hindered the n atu ral, organic process of
developm ent. B au g h 1 points out th a t Sw ift, for exam ple, in m atters
of language... was a conservative. B yron, on the other hand, was very
liberal and introduced into the literary language m any new words and
phrases. N ot all of them gained recognition and stayed in the literary
language; but nevertheless they were facts of the literary language by
their very nature. Take, for exam ple, the word w eatherology coined
by Byron.
1 Baugh, A lbert C. A H istory of the English Language. Ldn, 1963, p. 319.

43

The literary language greatly influences the non-literary language.

M any words, constructions and p articu larly phonetic im provem ents
have been introduced through it into the English colloquial language.
This influence had its greatest effect in the 19th century w ith the
spread of general education, and in the present century w ith th e intro
duction of ra d io and television into the daily lives of the people. M any
words of a highly literary character have passed into the non-literary
language, often undergoing peculiar m orphological and phonetic dis
to rtio n s in th e process.
The n o n -literary language m anifests itself in all aspects of th e la n
guage: phonetic, m orphological, lexical and syntactical.
Such form erly dialectal peculiarities as in' instead of ing\ M in
stead of [eel; the dropping of [h] and the insertion of [h| at the begin
ning of some words; (ail instead of [ei], [ram i[rem l, are typical pho
n etic peculiarities of non-literary English.
The difficulty th a t one faces when attem p tin g to specify the char
acteristic features of the non-literary variety lies m ainly in the fact
th a t it does not present any system . The best way to check this or th a t
form of n o n -literary English is to contrast it to the existing form.
L iterary English is alm ost synonym ous w ith th e term s t a n d a r d
E n g l i s h . S tandard English is best described in an interesting book
w ritten by R andolph Q uirk, Professor of English language in the U n i
versity of London, the title of which is The Use of E nglish. He states:
We have seen th a t standard English is basically an ideal, a
mode of expression th a t we seek when we wish to com m unicate
beyond our im m ediate com m unity w ith members of the wider com
m u n ity of th e nation as a whole. As an ideal, it cannot be per
fectly realised, and vve must expect th at members of different
wider com m unities (B ritain, Am erica, N igeria, for exam ple)
m ay produce different realisations. In fact, however, the rem ark
able thing is the very high degree of unanim ity, the small
am ount of divergence. A ny of us can read a newspaper
p rin ted in Leeds or San Francisco or Delhi w ithout difficulty and
often even w ithout realising th a t there are differences at
a ll. 1
Cockney, regarded as the rem nants of the London dialect, seems
to be growing into a generic term for any form of non-standard English
in B ritain , although non-standard varieties of E nglish exist in te rrito
rial variants. L iterary English is indifferent to territorial usage.
The p ublication of dictionaries does m uch to establish the literary
language norms. As a m atter of fact, it is im possible to establish any
norm once and for all. At the very mom ent it is established, it begins
to fluctuate. Such fluctuations not infrequently result in considerable
changes. And the com pilers of English dictionaries are forced w illynilly to acknowledge a varian t and present it as co-existing alongside the
one previously recognized as solely acceptable. This is p articu larly
1 Quirk, Randolph. The Use of English. Ldn, Longmans, 1962, pp. 95-96.

44

tlie case w ith reference to pronunciation. The scholar fixing the lan
guage norm is made to bow to his m ajesty the people.
The English literary language has had a long and peculiar history.
Throughout the stages of its developm ent there has been a struggle for
progressive tendencies, which, on the one hand, aim at barring the lan
guage from the intrusion of contam inating elem ents, such as jargonism s,
slang, vulgarism s and the like, and, on the other hand, at m anifesting
them selves in protest against the reactionary aspirations of some zealous
scholars to preserve the English language in a fixed form.
The English language, as is known, is the result of the integration
of the trib al dialects of the Angles, Saxons and J u te s who occupied the
B ritish Isles in the 3rd 5th centuries. The first m anuscripts of the
language belong to the 8th century. But the language of the 8th and
consecutive centuries is so unlike present-day E nglish th at Englishm en
do not understand it. This language is called Anglo-Saxon or Old E ng
lish. Old English is a dead language, like L atin or classic Greek. Like
them and like the R ussian language, it is an inflected language. The
Old English period lasted approxim ately until the end of the twelfth
century.
D uring the next stage in its developm ent, known as the M iddle E ng
lish period, th e English language ra p id ly progressed towards its pres
ent state. By this tim e it had greatly enlarged its vocabulary by borrow
ings from N orm an-French and other languages.
The stru ctu re of the language had considerably changed due to the
loss of most of the inflections and also to other very im portant changes.
By the m iddle of the th irteen th century N orm an-French, which
had been the official language since the Norm an Conquest in 1066, was
alm ost com pletely ousted by English. In 1362 P arliam en t was first
opened in E nglish, and a few years later court proceedings were ordered
to be carried on in English and not in French, "which was too little
known.
The New English period, as it is called, is usually considered to
date from the f i f t e e n t h c e n t u r y . This is the beginning of the
English language known, spoken and w ritten at the present time.
This period cannot yet be characterized by any degree of uniform ity
in the language. The influence of the various dialects was still strongly
felt, but the London dialect was g radually w inning general recognition.
According to m any historians of the English language, by the latter part of
the 15th century the London dialect had been accepted as the standard,
at least in w riting, in most parts of the country. This should to a very
great ex ten t be attrib u te d to C axton, the first English p rin ter, who in his
translations and in the books he printed used the current speech of Lon
don. Caxton w rites th at he was advised by learned men to use the most
curious term s th a t he could find, and declares th at he found himself
in a dilem m a "between the plain, rude and curious. B ut in m y judgem ent,
he goes on, the common term s th a t be daily used been lighter to under
stand than the old and ancient E nglish. P u tten h am , author of The
A rt of English Poesie, declares th at as the norm of literary English
ye shall therefore take the usual speech of the court, and th a t of Lon
45

don and Hie shires lying about London w ithin LX (sixty) miles and not
much above: 1
But th e process of establishing the London speech as a single norm
throughout th e country was very slow and hardly perceptible. Even
the language of th e 16th century, according to C . W yld, ...b o th in p rin t
ed works and in p riv ate letters, still shows considerable dialectal in
dividualism . The S ta n d a rd ... is not yet com pletely fixed. 2
In the s i x t e e n t h c e n t u r y literary English began m ark
edly to flourish. The ra p id developm ent of p rin tin g went parallel with
the general growth of culture, to which much was contributed by the
two universities, Oxford and Cambridge.
In the second half of the 16th century, a century m arked by the p o lit
ical and economic rise of E ngland, lite ratu re began to flourish in all
formsdram a, poetry and prose. The works of literary criticism w ritten
at th e tim e show the interest aw'akened in poetry and dram a. Frequent
tran slatio n s were now' m ade from the Greek and L atin classic w riters.
Edm und Spenser, C hristopher Marlowe, W illiam Shakespeare, and, la t
er, Ben Jonson, Beaum ont and Fletcher and m any other w riters of the
period exerted a very great influence on the grow'th and perfection of the
E nglish literary language.
The freedom in the use of language so characteristic of th is epoch
was often subjected to wise and m oderate restrictions set by these w rit
ers. So, for exam ple, Ben Jonson, w hile accepting Q u in tillia n s s ta te
m ent th at ...custom e is the most certain m istress of language, at the
sam e tim e warns ...n o t to be frequent w ith every day coining , nor to
use words from past ages which were no longer in use, th at is, archaic
words as, for instance, Chaucerisms.
In their use of the language there were two tendencies am ong the
w riters of th is age: one w'as the free and alm ost unrestricted use of new
words and forms, coined or im ported into the E nglish language; the
other was the revival of archaic words, the latter being a counter-w eight
to the former. Two nam es m ay be called to m ind as representing the
two tendencies: Spenser, on the one hand, Shakespeare, on the other.
Spenser tried to preserve the old English W'ords, especially those denot
ing ab stract ideas, which had been replaced by words of French or L atin
origin. H e praised these words as being more expressive than the bor
rowed ones.
On the contrary, Shakespeare advocated in his sonnets and plays
the unrestricted use of words of all kinds and p articu larly new coinages.
Shakespeare him self coined m any new words. Marlow'e and F letcher
drew7 widely on th e resources of vernacular English and this, to a large
exten t, explains the rem arkable vigour and expressiveness of their
language.
To give a general idea of the factors influencing the developm ent
of literary English in the 15th and 16th centuries, it will suffice to point
out the following three:
1 Baugh. Albert C. Op. c it.. p. 275.
2 Wyld, H. C. A H istorv of Modern Colloquial English. Ldn, 1925, p. 102.

46

1) A common interest in classical lite ratu re during the Renaissance

and hence the application of classical gram m ar, spelling and rhetoric
to the English language. A ttem pts were m ade by scholars to fcrce the
classical norm s in to the English ianguage.
2) A desire to keep the language pure, to retain and revive old Eng
lish words and as far as possible old English m orphological and syntac
tical forms. This tendency has been called a r c h a i c p u r i s m .
The influence of archaic purism led to an acute struggle against the in
trusion of foreign words, p artic u la rly those of L atin and continental
French origin, and as a consequence of this struggle an orientation
tow ards the obsolescent forms of the language.
3) An o rien tatio n towards the living, developing and ra p id ly chang
ing norm s of the colloquial language. Free use was m ade of the inherent
properties of the English language as they had m aterialized by this
tim e, for exam ple, free use of conversion, w ord-com position, derivation
and sem antic change. In the dom ain of syntax and w ord-order too, there
was alread y considerable freedom of usage.
The P ro testan t R eform ation, which gradually gained strength and
p o p u larity throughout the 16th century, played a great role in the de
velopm ent of the English literary language. Books on religion, tra n sla t
ed or composed in strong, sim ple, living English w ith few learned
words, and understandable to the masses of ordinary people, were by
act of P arliam en t placed in the churches and read aloud. P arts of the
B ible and later the whole Bible, were also translated in the same manner.
By order of Queen E lizabeth I a B ible w'as placed in every church and
people flocked to read it or hear it read. (Up to the reign of E lizabeth
it had been forbidden to read the B ible in English and people were pun
ished and b u rn t to death for doing so.)
The interaction of these three factors is reflected in the gram m ars
and books on rh eto ric of the tim e, which serve to illu stra te to the pres
ent-d ay reader the fluctuation of the norm s then existing, as well as
the linguistic ideas, tastes and credos of the scholars who laid down the
law. The u n critical applications of the laws of L atin gram m ar to the
norm s observed in the English language were objected to even in the
16th century. P h ilip Sidney, for instance, stated th a t the English lan
guage m ust have its own gram m ar. H e saw th at such gram m atical cat
egories as case, gender, tense and mood, which are n atu ra l to L atin , could
not be applied m echanically to English.
However, books on rhetoric have played a considerable part in estab
lishing the norm s of literary English in the 16th as well as in the follow
ing centuries. As far back as in 1524 Leonard Cox published a textbook
en title d The A rte or C rafte of R hetorique which w'as followed by a
series of works of this kind. M any of them have helped to lay the founda
tion for the study of the laws of com position and of the ways and means
to m ake w ritin g em phatic in order th at the desired effect on the reader
should be achieved and the main function of language com m unica
tionguaranteed to the full.
One of the most popular w'orks of the tim e was Thom as W ilsons
A rte of R hetorique published in 1553. Following the ancient L atin
47

trad itio n of rhetoric, W ilson divides style of expression into three kinds:
elevated, m iddle and low, a division which was in vogue up to the 19th
century and which greatly influenced the course of developm ent of the
English literary language. W riting devoid of all ornam ent was consid
ered coarse. It was in this period, the 16th century, th a t a lite r
ary trend known as euphuism came into vogue. The euphuistic m anner
of w riting was characterized by a pedantic affectation of elegant and
high-flown language abounding in all kinds of sty listic devices.
It was not only the syntactical aspect of the English literary lan
guage that was influenced by the laws of rhetoric. The choice of words
was also predeterm ined by the laws set by the rhetoricians of the 16th
century. Latin words, either directly or through the French language,
poured into the English literary language because English had never
had, or had lost, th e words required to give expression to scientific
ideas. Sir Thomas More, for exam ple, introduced into the English lan
guage a great m any words in spite of the opposition of the p urists of the
tim e. To him the English language owes such words as absurdity, accept
ance, anticipate, compatible, comprehensible, congratulate, explain, fact,
indifference, monopoly, necessitate, obstruction, paradox, pretext and m any
others. Philip S idney is said to have coined such words as emanci
pate, eradicate, exist, extinguish, harass, m editate and m any other
words and phrases. As illu stratio n s we have chosen words which have
found a perm anent place in the English stock of words. Most of them
have already passed into th e neutral layer of words. A great m any words
introduced by m en-of-letters in the 16th century and later have disap
peared en tirely from E nglish literature.
F urther, there were great difficulties in spelling. No two w riters
spelt all words exactly alike. From the Old English period up to the
15th century there had been chaos in English spelling. The Old English
system , which was phonetic, had broken down because the language had
changed. Then besides th a t, no w riter knew exactly how to spell bor
rowed wordsin the Latin, th e French or the N orm an-French way,
or according to the rules which individual w riters applied in their own
way w'hen spelling words of E nglish o rig in .1 E ven the publication of
dictionaries, which began in th e m iddle of the 37th century, did not
fix English spelling. One of the first dictionaries was called Table
A lphabetical conieyning and teaching the true w ritin g and understand
ing of hard usual English words. This was the first dictionary confined
entirely to th e English language. S pelling was one of the problem s which
th e English language began consciously to face in the 16th century and
it was fairly settled before th e end of the 17th century.
And yet th is period is characterized m ainly by freedom of the norms
used in th e literary language. The interaction of th e lively everyday
speech and th e u n stab le rules of English gram m ar led to a peculiar
enrichm ent of th e literary language. New w ord-com binations were coined
w ith ease and new m eanings attach ed to them (for exam ple, to come
1 The influence of the L a tin ists can be seen. foT exam ple, in the w o r d s debt and
dcrnhi. The b w as inserted to m ake th e w ords took m ore like the L a tin originals.

48

about in th e m eaning o f to hap p en '; to come b y = to g et; to come upon

to n ear).
The sam e can be observed in th e com position of compound words,
p a rtic u la rly words w ith adjectives as first com ponents, for exam ple,
w ith the w ord deepdeep-divorcing, deep-premediated; deep-searched.,
deep-sore; deep-sweet; deep-wounded; deep-brained.1
The elem ent deep in these exam ples loses its prim ary logical m eaning
and assum es a new m eaning, half-gram m atical, which we call em otional.
The word th u s assumes a new q u ality : it is a sem i-prefix, indicating the
in ten sificatio n of th e q u ality em bodied in the second adjective.
The free use of words, in sp ite of the restrictio n s imposed on this
freedom b y certain ardent adherents of the p u rity of the language,
resulted in the appearance of new m eanings of words. F irst they were
perceived as co n tex tu al, p ro b a b h accom panied by suggestive intona
tion and gestures, and th en , in th e course of tim e, through frequency
of re p etitio n , th e new m eanings were absorbed into the sem antic stru c
ture of the word.
As an illu stra tio n of the in stab ility of the norms of usage it will be
interesting to p o in t out the variety of prepositions th a t could be used
w ith verbs. Thus, the verb to repent was used w ith the following prep
ositions: rep en t a t', repent, fo r', repent over, repent i n ', repent of'.
The sy n tactical p atterns of this period were also m arked by notice
able v a rie ty arising from the re la tiv e freedom of usage. This freedom
is observable n o t only in th e word order but in tire use of double nega
tions, as in say n o th in g n e ith e r and the like. In m orphology it is m ar
ked by The use of b oth adjectives and adverbs in the function of m odi
fiers of verbs, as in to speak p la in , she is exceeding wise and the like,
The flu ctu atio n in the norm s of the English literary language of
the 16th cen tu ry is ascr 'bcd to a v a rie ty of causes. One is th a t the Lon
don diafect, which formed th e core of th e nation al literary language,
wms not yet spoken all over the country. C onsequently, an educated
man who came, let us say, from the N orth of E ngland, still retain ed in
his speech certain oi the m orphological and syntactical forms of his
n ativ e d ialect. Then, in view of the fact th a t the norms of the literary
language were not yet hard and fast, he used these dialectal forms in
his w ritin g . There was a great influx of forms frcm the common speech
of the people info th e lite rary language which, however, was still the do
m ain of th e few.
S tu d en ts of th e h isto ry of tire English language give a num ber of
reasons ex p lain in g tin s influx of forms from the everyday language of the
people. O ne of them is th a t after the church of E ngland refused to acknow
ledge the au th o rity of Rome, church services had been tran slated from
L atin into sim ple, strong E nglish. Services were held d aily and long
sermons delivered in English, "fanv of th e clergy found th a t th e lite
ra ry E nglish did n o t have m uch more m eaning to the people th an church
L atin had had, so they m odified it, bringing it closer to th e speech of
* The exam ples are taken from G . M ck n ig h t's Modem English in th e Making.
N- Y ., 1956.

49

the people am ong whom they lived. Clergymen who were unable to
w rite their own sermons used those of the great protestant reform ers
of th e 16th century which were w ritten in sim ple forceful English with
a m ininum of borrowed words.
It was in the choice of the words to be used in literary English th at
the sharpest controversy arose and in which the two tendencies of the
period were most apparent.
On the one hand, there was a fierce struggle against ink-horn term s,
as they were then c a lle d .1 Among the learned men of the 16th century
who fought against the introduction of any innovations into the Eng
lish language m ust be m entioned Sir John Cheke, Roger Ascham and, in
p articu lar, Thomas W ilson, whose well-known A rte of R hetorique
has already been m entioned. H e severely attacked ink-horn term s.
Some of the words th a t were objected to by Thomas W ilson were affabil
ity, ingenious, capacity, celebrate, illustrate, superiority, fertile, native,
confidence and m any others th a t are in common use to-day. P uttenham ,
although issuing a w arning against ink-horn term s, adm its having
to use some of them him self, and seeks to ju stify them in particu lar ins
tances. He defends the words scientific, majordome, politien (p o liti
cian), conduct (verb) and others.
On the other hand, there was an eq u ally fierce struggle against the
tendency to revive obsolete words and p artic u la rly the vocabulary and
phraseology of Chaucer. Ben Jonson in this connection said: Spenser
in affecting the ancients w rit no language. Sir Jo h n Cheke, one of the
purists of the century, tried to introduce English equivalents for the
French borrowings: he invented such words as mooned (lunatic), foresyer (prophet), byword (parable), freshman (proselyte), crossed (cruci
fied), gaitirising (resurrection). Of these words only freshman in the sen
se of first-year stu d e n t and byword in the sense of a saying rem ain in
the language. The tendency to revive archaic words, however, has always
been observed in poetic language.
The 16th century m ay ju stly be called crucial in establishing the
norm s of present-day literary English. B oth of the tendencies m entio
ned above have left their m ark on the stan d ard English of to-day. Sixleenth-century literary English could not, however, be called standard
English because at th at tim e there was no received standard.
S e v e n t e e n t h - c e n t u r y literary English is characterized by
a general tendency to refinem ent and regulation. The orientation towards
classical models, strong enough in 16th century English, assumed a new
function, th at of refining, polishing and im proving the literary langua
ge. This was, of course, one of the trends leading to the final establish
m ent of the norm s of literary English.
The tendency to refine the language, to give it the grace and gallan try
of th e n o b ility of the period, is m anifested in the w ritings of language
theoreticians and critics of the tim e. Illu stra tiv e of this is the Essay
on D ram atic Poesy by John D ryden, where we find the following:
1 Terms born from an ink-horn, th a t is, words and phrases which were purposely
coined by m en-of-Ietlers, and the meaning of which was obscure

50

 1 have alw ays acknowledged the w it of our predecessors...

but I am sure their wit was not th a t of gentlem en; there was ever
som ewhat th at was ill bred and clownish in it and which confes
sed th e conversation of the au th o rs... In the age wherein these poets
lived, there was less of g allan try than in ours;
neither did they
keep the best com pany of theirs (their age)... The discourse and
ra ille ry of our comedies excel w hat has
been
w ritten
by them . 1
One of the m any m anifestations of the process of regulation and re
finem ent can be seen in the succesive editions of Shakespeares works
in 1623, 1632, 1664, 1685, in which the language of the great playw right
was subjected to considerable change in order to m ake it conform to
the norm s established by his successors. There were not only m orpholog
ical and syntactical changes, but even changes in Shakespeares vocab
ulary. W ords th a t were considered ill bred and clow nish were some
tim es changed, but more often they were om itted altogether.
In 1664 a special com m ittee was set up, the aim of which was to nor
m alize and im prove the English language. B ut the C om m ittee did
not last long and had little influence in deciding upon the norm s of
usage.
A considerable role in the reg u latio n of the norm s was played by a
num ber of new gram m ars which appeared a t this period. Am ong these
the G ram m atica L inguae A nglicanae w ritten in L atin by Jo h n W allis
and published in 1653 is p articu larly notable. It was a kind of protest
against the blind im itation of L atin gram m ars, although the author
could not free him self entirely from the influence of the L atin gram m a
tical system and the L atin theory of language.
The tendency of refining and polishing the English literary language
by m odelling it on the classic Greek and L atin m asterpieces w'as counter
acted, however, by another strong m ovem ent, th at of restrictin g lite r
ary English to a sim ple colloquial language which would easily be u n
derstood by the ordinary people. The P ro testan t R eform ation also played
its role in safeguarding the English literary language for the people.
So, on the one hand, there was the rhetoric which was ...a potent
force in shaping the English language in the period following the R enais
sance 2 and which undoubtedly paved the way for the norm s of the
standard English of the 17th century. On the other hand, there was the
authorized version of the English B ible first published in 1611, which
...h as served to keep alive English words and to fix their m ean
ings, and it has provided language m aterial and pattern in word,
in phrase, in rh y th m ... to English w riters and speakers of all sub
sequent tim es. 3
According to F rank A. V isetelly, the Bible contains 97 per cent of
Anglo-Saxon words, more than any other English book.
1 Q uoted by H . C. Wi/hl, op. c it., p. 154.
2 M c K n ig h t, G. H . Op. cit., p. 124.

3 Ibid.

51

E arly in th e seventeenth century English dictionaries began to ap

pear as practical guides to the use of new words, term s belonging to
science and a rt and also ink-horn term s, which had poured into the
English language in the 16th century and continued to flow in in the
seventeenth.
As in every century there was a struggle between the p u rists, the
keepers of the already established norm s of the language, who m ainly
orien tate towards th e literary and somewhat obsolescent forms of lan
guage, and the adm irers of novelty who regard everything new th at
appears on the surface of the language as representing its natu ral devel
opm ent and therefore as som ething th a t should be readily accepted
into th e system w ithout its being subjected to the test of tim e. Such
a struggle is th e n atu ra l clash of tendencies which leads to changes in
the literary language of each linguistic period. B ut there is neverthe
less a general tendency in each period which will undoubtedly be ref
lected in th e literary language.
The norm alizing tendency, so apparent in the seventeenth century,
continues into the eighteenth. B ut by e i g h t e e n t h c e n t u r y
it had become a conscious goal. The aim of the language scholars who
sought to lay down the law in the eighteenth century m ay be expressed
as the desire to fix the language for all tim e, to establish its laws once
and for all. Order and re g u larity were the qualities they esteemed. Their
need for stan d ard ization and regulation was sum m ed up in their word
ascertainm ent of the language.
G. H. M cKnight, a student of the history of m odern standard Eng
lish, whom we have already cited, describes the general tendency of
th e developm ent of the literary English of the eighteenth century in the
following words:
The little-controlled English language of the tim e of Sidney
and Shakespeare, the elegant freedom of expression of the R esto
ra tio n period, was to be subjected to au th o rity . Both learning rep
resented by Johnson and fashinable breeding represented by Ches
terfield came together in a common form of language reduced to
re g u la rity and u niform ity. 1
B ut the actu al history of the developm ent of standard English cannot
be reduced to the interaction of learning and fashionable breeding. Ehe
developm ent of th e literary language is m arked by the process of selection. The real creator of the lite ra ry form ot fKe language rem ains
the people, th e actu al lawgiver of the norms. S cientists and men-of-letters only fix w hat has already been established by general usage. New
norm s of usage cannot be imposed. B ut to historians of language the
opinions of w riters and scholars of a given period as well as those of or
d in ary people are of great value. They help to trace the flu ctu atin g
trends leading to the establishm ent of th e norm s of the period and in
fluence to some extent the progress of literary English.

1 M cf(night, G. H. Op. c it., p. 373.

52

In the eighteenth century two men had a great influence on the de

velopm ent of the norms of literary English. These were Jo n ath an Swift
and Samuel Johnson.
Ip an attem p t to regularize the use of English, Swift condemned both
w hat he called vulgar slanginess and intolerable preciosity. Accor
ding to Sw ift, th e vulgar slanginess came from a certain school of young
men from th e universities, terrib ly possessed w ith fear of pedantry,
who from his description wished to be what we should call up
to d a te *.
T hey... come up to town, reckon all their errors for accom
plishm ents, borrow tlie newest set of phrases and if tak e a pen into
their hands, all the odd words they have picked up in a coffee-hou
se, or at a gam ing ordinary are produced as flowers of s ty le .
Such a strange race of w its w ith their quaint fopperies of
m anner and speech, exist in every age. Their m annerism s rarely
pass beyond th eir im m ediate clique, and have no more permanence
th an foam on the riv e r. 1
The intolerable preciosity, as Swift understands it, was the tenden
cy to use em bellishm ents to the detrim ent of clarity and exactness.
It was Swift who declared the necessity to call a spade a spade, a phra
se which has become a symbol for a plain and sim ple way of expression.
Sam uel Jo h n so n s a ttitu d e tow ard language is best expressed in his
G ram m ar: For pronunciation, the best ru le is to consider those as the
most elegant speakers who deviate least from the w'ritten words. F aith
ful to th is doctrine Johnson in try in g to "ascertain the English language
was m ainly concerned with the usage of great English w riters. In his
famous d ictionary, first published in 1753, the influence of which on
subsequent dictionaries of the English language can hardly be over-es
tim ated , Johnson made his selection only from words found in literary
publications, ignoring the words and collocations used in oral interco
urse, in th e lively colloquial English of his day. The definitions given
by Johnson reflect only the usage of the great w riters of his own and of
preceding centuries.
The literary-bookish character of Johnsons dictionary has greatly
influenced th e word usage of w ritten English and also the form ation of
different styles in literary English.
E ighteenth-century concepts in the fields of philosophy and natural
sciences had considerable influence on contem porary theoretical lin
g u istic thought. Even the titles of certain gram m ars of the period re
flected the general tendency to lay down categorical laws. Thus, for
exam ple, the title: Reflections on the N ature and P roperty of Language
in G eneral, on the A dvantages, Defects, and M anner of im proving the
English Tongue in P articu lar by Thom as Stackhouse (1731) clearly
shows the aim s of the w riter, aim s which were common to most of the
18th century works on language, i. e. im proving the language and fixing
its laws for the use of the people.
1 W yld, H . C. Op. c it., p. 160.

53

This general tren d of language theory is also expressed by Samuel

Johnson in th e preface to his dictionary,
Language, he w rites, is only the instrum ent of science, and
the words are but the signs of ideas. I wish, however, th a t the instru
m ent m ight be less a p t to decay,and th a t the signs m ight be per
m anent, like th e things which they denote.
However, adherence to the theoretical trends of the century was
not universal. There were some scholars who protested against a rb itra
rily im posing laws and restrictions on the language. Thus, for exam ple,
Jo h n Fell in his E ssay tow ards an English G ram m ar published in
1784 declares:
It is certain ly the business of a gram m arian to find out, and not
to m ake, th e laws of language.
In this work the author does not assum e the character of a legisla
tor, but appears as a faithful com piler of the scattered laws.
"... It m atters not w hat causes these custom s and fashions owe
their birth to. The m om ent they become general they are laws of
th e language; and a gram m arian can only rem onstrate how much
so ever he disapprove. 1
The eighteenth century literary trend was also influenced to a consid
erable degree by the rhetoric which since the Renaissance had played
a noticeable role in all m atters of language.2
B ut the m ajo rity of language scholars were concerned w ith the use
of words, inasm uch as the lexical un its and their functioning are more
observable and discernible in the slow progress of language develop
m ent. The well-known article by Jo n a th a n Swift A Proposal for the
Correcting, Im proving, and A scertaining the English Tongue in its
very title sum s up th e general a ttitu d e of scholars towards the English
of th eir century. The m ain issues of this docum ent, rem arkable in many
ways, centre around the use of words and set expressions.
Meanwhile, however, colloquial E nglish, following its n atu ra l path
of progress and living its own life, although it was subjected to some
extent to th e general tendencies laid down by the m en-of-letters, ex h ib
ited a kind of independence in the use of words, expressions, syntax,
and pronunciation.
The gap between the literary and colloquial English of the 18th
century was widening. The restrictions forced on the w ritten language

1 M cK night, G. H. Op. c it., p. 390.

2 It is interesting to rem ark in passing th a t language theories of the 16th to the
18th centuries were in general more concerned w ith w hat we would non call m acrolin
guistics in contrast to the present tim e when the process of atom ization of language facts
not infrequently overshadows observations concerning the nature and properties of
units of comm unication.

54

are felt in th e speech of the characters in the novels and plays of this
p e rio d .1 Their speech is under the heavy influence of literary English
and therefore it is erroneous to understand it as representing the norm s
of 18th century spoken English.
The n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y trends in literary English are
best sum m arized in the follow ing statem ent by M cK night:
The sp irit of purism was evidently alive in the early nineteenth
century. The sense of a classical perfection to be str ven for survived
from th e eighteenth century. The language m ust not only be made
more regular, but it m ust be protected from the corrupting influences
th a t were felt to be on all sides. V ulgarism s were to be avoided and
new words, if they were to be tolerated, must conform not only to
analogy but to good taste. 2
This p u ristic sp irit is revealed m ainly in the a ttitu d e tow ards vocab
ulary and pronunciation. S yntactical and m orphological changes are
not so apparent as lexical and phonetic ones and therefore are less ex
posed to the criticism of the purists.
M any new words th at were com ing into use as, for exam ple, reliable,
environm ent, lengthy were objected to on the principle th at they were
unnecessary innovations replacing, e. g., trustw orthy scenery or circum
stances and long. M acaulay protested against the use of talented, in flu en
tial, gentlem anly. The tendency to protest against innovation, however,
grad u ally gave way to new trends, those of the 19th century, which can be
defined as th e beginning of the recognition of colloquial English as a
variety of the national language. C olloquial words and expressions cre
ated by the people began to pour into literary English. The literary critics
and m en-of-letters objected to the m axim s laid down by their predeces
sors and began to lay the foundation for new theoretical concepts of the
literary language.
Thus De Q uincey in his essay on rhetoric declares:
...since Dr. Jo hnsons tim e the freshness of the idiom atic style
has been too frequently abandoned for the lifeless mechanism of a
style purely bookish and m echanical. 3
The restrictio n of the English vocabulary which was prom oted
by the classicizing tendencies of the eighteenth century, w rites
M cK night, was appreciably loosened by the sp irit which produced
the R om antic m ovem ent. 4
However, the p urists never ceased to struggle against new coinages
and there were special lists of proscribed words and expressions. The
constant struggle of those who endeavour to safeguard the p u rity of
their language against new creations or borrowings, which alone can
supply th e general need for m eans to render new ideas, seems to repre
1
2
3
4

See examples on pp. 239-240 ( R epresented Speech").

M cK night, G. H . Op. c it.. p. 509.
Quoted bv M cK night, G. H . Op. cit., p. 518, ed. 1956.
Ibid., p . '5 1 7 .

55

sent a natural process in language developm ent. It is th is struggle th at

m akes the literary language move forward and forces the recognition
of new forms, words and sy n tach cal patterns. The works of B yron,
Thackeray, Dickens and other classic w riters of the 19th century show
how m any words from the colloquial language of th a t period have been
adopted into stan d ard literary English.
Another feature of 19th century literary English to be noted is a more
or less firm ly established differentiation of styles, though this process
was not fully appreciated by the scholars of the period.
The dichotom y of w ritten and oral intercourse which m anifested
itself m ainly in the w idening of the gap between the literary and nonliterary forms, so typical of 18th century English, led the way to a
cluster of varieties w ithin the lite ra ry language, viz. to its stratificatio n
into different styles. A p articu larly conspicuous instance of this s tra ti
fication was th e singling out of poetic diction and the establishm ent
of a set of rules by which the language of poetry was governed. S trict
laws concerning word usage and imagery in poetry had long been recog
nized as a specific feature of the style of poetry.
The norm s of 19th century literary English wore considerably influ
enced by certain other styles of language, which by th is period had already
shaped them selves a s separate styles. By this period the shaping of
the newspaper sty le, the publicistic style, the style of scientific prose
and th e official style m ay be said to have been com pleted and language
scholars fou-nd them selves faced w ith new problem s. It became necessary
to seek th e foundation and distinctive characteristics of each functkwial
sty le of language and analyse them .
The shaping of th e belles-lettres prose style called forth a new sys
tem of expressive means and sty listic devices. There appeared a sty listic
device represented speech (see p. 236) which quickly developed
into one of the most popular means by which the thought and feeling
of a character in a novel can be shown th e speech of the character com
bining w'ilh the exposition of the author to give a fuller picture. The
favourite sty listic devices of the prose style of the 18th century, rh e to ri
cal questions, clim ax, anaphora, antithesis and some others gave way
to more lively sty listic devices, as breaking off t he n arrativ e, detached
constructions and other devices so 'typical of the norm s of lively collo
quial speech. S ty listic devices regarded udth suspicion and dissap.proval
in th e I8th century were beginning to gain popularity.
The realistic tendencies and trends in English lite ratu re during this
period m ade it necessary to introduce non-literary forms of English
when depicting characters from the so called lower classes through the
idiosyncrasies of th eir speech. In this connection another feature must
be m entioned when characterizing the ways and m eans by which lite r
ary English of th e 19th century progressed. This was a m ore liberal
adm ission of dialectal words and words from the S cottish dialect in
particu lar. To a considerable extent this m ust be a ttrib u te d to R obert
Burns, whose poems were w idely read and adm ired and who, as is known,
wrote in the Scottish (Scots) dialect. The novels of W alter S cott also
aided the process.
56

In sum m ing up the m ain features of the struggle to establish norm s

for 19th century literary E nglish, special m ention m ust be m ade of th e
two tendencies ch aracteristic of this period. One was reactionary p u r
ism, the principles of which were laid down in the 17th and 18th centu
ries and w hich became m anifest in the struggle against any innovation
no m atter where it came from. The purist w as equally against words
borrowed from other languages, the coinage of new words and also
sem antic changes in the nativ e stock of words. This reactionary purism
o rien tated the literary language tow ards a revival of old words which
had gone out of use and of constructions typical of earlier stages in the
histo ry of English.
The other tendency was to draw' on the inexhaustible resources of
the vernacular both in vocabulary and in the lively syntactical patterns
of colloquial English so suggestive of the w'arm intonation of the hum an
voice. T his tendency was p articu larly observable in the belles-lettres
style of language and B yron, Thackeray and Dickens contributed greatly
to th e enrichm ent of the literary language.
The end of the century led practically to no change in the general
direction of the tw'o tendencies. B ut there is undoubted evidence th at
the second of the two above-m entioned tendencies has taken the upper
hand. R eactionary purism is dying down and giving w'ay to strong mod
ernizing tendencies, which flourish p articu larly in the new spaper sty
le and the belles.-lettres style. The recognition in the 20th century of
the everyday speech of the people as a variety of the n atio n al language
has done much to legalize the colloquial form of English which, until
the present century had been barred from the dom ain of language studies.
W e m ust point out that the functional styles of language have shaped
them selves w ithin the literary form of the English language. The d iv i
sion of th e stan d ard English language into two varieties, w ritten and
spoken (the literarary language and the colloquial language), which w'as
recognized earlier and which was acknowledged as a n atu ra l coexistence,
now goes alongside the problem of the closed system s of styles of lan
guage.
6. MEANING FROM A STYLISTIC POINT OF VIEW
S ty listics is a dom ain where m eaning assumes param ount im portan
ce. T his is so because the term m eaning is applied not only to words,
w ord-com binations, sentences but also to the m anner of expression into
which the m atter is cast.
The linguistic term m e a n i n g has been defined in so m any w'ays
th a t there appears an urgent need to clarify it; p artic u la rly in view of
th e fact th a t in so m any lexical, gram m atical and phonetic SDs this
category is treated differently. It has already been m entioned th at a
sty listic device is m ainly realized when a twofold application of m ea
nin g is apparent.
A t some period in the developm ent of a certain trend in linguistic
theory in A m erica, viz. descriptive linguistics, m eaning was excluded
from observations in language science; it w'as considered an e.xtra-linguistic category.
57

The tendency was so strong that R. Jakobsori proposed Hie term se

m antic inv arian t as a su b stitu te for m eaning. If, however, you dis
like the word m eaning because it is too am biguous, w rites R. Jakobson,
then let us sim ply deal w ith sem antic invariants, no less im portant for
linguistic analysis than the phonem ic in v arian ts. 1
B ut this tendency has been ruled out by later research in language
data. One of th e prom inent Am erican scientists, W allace L. Chafe,
is rig h t when he states th at ...th e d ata of m eaning are both accessible
to linguistic ex p lan ation and crucial to the investigation of language
stru ctu re in certain ways more crucial than the data of sound to which
linguistic studies have given such unbalanced a tte n tio n . 2
The problem of m eaning in general linguistics deals m ainly with
such aspects of the term as the interrelation between m eaning and con
cept, m eaning and sign, m eaning and referent. The general tendency
is to regard m eaning as som ething stable at a given period of tim e. This
is reasonable, otherw ise no dictionary would be able to cope w ith the
problem of defining th e m eaning of words. Moreover, no com m unica
tion would be pos lble.
In sty listics m eaning is also viewed as a category w'hich is able to
acquire m eanings imposed on the words by the context. T hat is why
such m eanings are called c o n t e x t u a l m e a n i n g s . This cate
gory also takes under observation n eanings which have fallen out of use.
In sty listics it is im portant to discrim inate shades or nuances of
m eaning, to atom ize the m eaning, the com ponent p arts of which are
now called the s e m e s , i. e. the sm allest units of which m eaning of
a word consists. A proper concern for m eanings, w rites W. Chafe,
should lead to a situ atio n wTiere, in the train in g of linguists, practice
in the discrim ination of concepts will be given at least as much tim e in
th e curriculum as practice in the discrim ination of sounds. 3
It will be shown later, in the analysis of SDs, how' im portant it is
to discrim inate between the m eanings of a given word or construction
in order to adequately comprehend the idea and purport of a passage
and of a com plete w'ork.
It is now common knowledge th a t lexical m eaning differs from
gram m atical m eaning in more than one way. L e x i c a l m e a n i n g
refers th e m ind to some concrete concept, phenom enon, or th in g of ob
jectiv e re ality , w hether real or im aginary. Lexical m eaning is thus a
m eans by which a word-form is m ade to express a definite concept.
G r a m m a t i c a l m e a n i n g refers our m ind to relations be
tween w'ords or to some forms of words or constructions bearing upon
their stru ctu ral functions in the language-as-a-system . G ram m atical
m eaning can th u s be adequately called structural m eaning.
There are no W'ords which are deprived of gram m atical m eaning inas
m uch as all words belong to some system and consequently have their
1 Jakobson, R . The Conference of A ntropologists and L in g u ists. In: Selected
W ritings . The H ague, v. 2, p. 565.
2 Chafe, W. L. M eaning and the Structure of Language. Chicago, 1970, p. 351.
3 Ibid., p. 78.

58

place in th e system , and also inasm uch as they alw ays function in speech
displaying their functional properties. It is the sam e w ith sentences.
E v ery sentence has its own independent structural m eaning. This stru c
tu ral m eaning m ay in some cases be influenced or affected by the lexi
cal m eanings of the com ponents or by intonation. In the sentence I shall
never go to th at place again, we have a num ber of words w ith lexical
m eanings {never, go, place, again) and words w ith only gram m atical m ea
ning ( /, shall, that) and also the m eaning of the whole sentence, which
is defined as a stru ctu re in statem ent form.
But each of the m eanings, being closely interwoven and interdepend
en t, can none th e less be regarded as re la tiv e ly autonom ous and there
fore be analysed separately.
It is significant th at words acquire different statu s when analysed
in isolation or in the sentence. This double aspect causes in the long
run the growth of the sem antic stru ctu re of a word, especially when the
two aspects frequently interweave.
W ords can be classed according to different principles: morpholo; cal (arts of speech), sem antic (synonyms, antonym s, them atic), sty lis
tic (see classification on. p 72), and other types of classification. In each
of these classifications lexical o r/an d gram m atical m eanings assum e
different m anifestations. In a m orphological classification words are
grouped according to their gram m atical meanings; in a sem antic classi
fication, according to their logical (referential) m eanings, in a sty listic
classification, according to their sty listic meaning.
Lexical m eanings are closely related to concepts. They are som eti
mes identified w ith concepts. B ut concept is a purely logical category,
whereas m eaning is a linguistic one. In linguistics it is necessary to view
m eaning as the representation of a concept through one of its proper
ties. Concept, as is known, is versatile; it is characterized by a num ber
of properties. M eaning takes one of these properties and makes it repre
sent th e concept as a whole. Therefore m eaning in reference to concept
becomes, as it were, a kind of m etonym y. This statem ent is significant
inasm uch as it will further explain the sty listic function of certain m ea
nings. One and th e same concept can be represented in a num ber of lin
guistic m anifestation^ (meanings) b u t, paradoxal though it m ay sound,
each m anifestation causes a slight (and som etim es considerable) m odi
fication of the concept, in other words, discloses laten t or unknown pro
perties of the concept.
The v a ria b ility of m eanings, w rites R. Jakobson, their m anifold
and far-reaching figurative shifts, and an incalculable a p titu d e for m ul
tip le paraphrases are ju st those properties of n atu ra ll language w hich
induce its c reativ ity and endow not only poetic but even scientific a c ti
vities w ith a continuously inventive sweep. H ere the indefiniteness and
creative power appear to be wholly interrelated. 1
The inner property of language, which may be defined as self-gen
erating, is ap p aren t in m eaning. It follows then th a t the c re a tiv ity of
1 Jakobson. R . L inguistics in R elation to O ther Sciences. In: Selected W orks .
The Hague, v. 11, p. 059.

59

language so often referred to in this work, lies in this particular category

of language sciencemeaning.
The v aria b ility of m eanings caused by th e m ultifarious practical
ap p licatio n of th e basic (fundam ental) m eaning when used in speech
has led to th e b irth of a notion known as p v l y s e m a n t i c i s m .
This is a linguistic category which contains a great degree of am biguity.
On the one hand, we perceive m eaning as a representation of a definite
concept by means of a word. On the other hand, we state th at the same
concept m ay be expressed by different m eanings all belonging to th e sa
me word.
S till more confusing is the well-recognized fact th a t different con
cepts m ay be expressed by one and the sam e word. But such is the very
n atu re of language, where contradiction, am biguity and un certain ty run
parallel w ith rig id ity , strictness and conform ity to standard require
m ents of gram m atical acceptability.
S. D. Katznelson rem arks in this connection th a t "a lexical m eaning
m ay... conflict w ith the basic functional m eaning of its class rem aining,
however, w ithin its own class. 1
The a b ility of a word to be polysem antic, i. e. to com prise several
lexical m eanings, becomes a crucial issue for sty listic studies. It m ust
be clearly understood th at the m ultitude of m eanings th at a word may
have is not lim ited by dictionaries where this m ultitude has already been
recognized and fixed. Some meanings, which for the tim e being have
not as yet been recognized as legitim ate members of the sem antic stru c
ture of the given word, m ay, in the course of tim e, through frequent use
become such and subsequently become fixed in dictionaries. C onvin
cing proof of this are the so-called addenda to new editions of dictiona
ries where new m eanings are presented as already recognized facts of
language.
A sty listic approach to the issue in question takes into consideration
th e fact th at every word, no m atter how rich in m eanings it m ay be,
leaves the door open for new shades and nuances and even for independent
m eanings. True, such m eanings are not alw ays easily accepted as nor
mal. M oreover, m any of them are rejected both by scholars and the peop
le and therefore are not recognized as facts of language. Such meanings
become obscure in the fam ily of lexical m eanings of a word; they can
only be traced back to the original use. However, some ol 1hese m eanings
are occasionally re-established in the vocabulary at a later time.
Lexical m eaning, be it repealed, is a conventional category. Very
frequently it does not reflect the properties of the thing or the phenom e
non it refers to. However, some meanings are said to be m otivated, i.e.
they point to some q u ality or feature of the object. The conventional
character of m eaning can best be illustrated bv the following example.
In Russian the word is a general term denoting all kinds of ar
ticles m ade from flax: underw ear, household a. tid e s, shirts and so on.
The origin of the word is (white). In English this concept is de-

1 . . . ., 1972, . 154.
60

noted by th e word linen, which is the nam e of the m aterial (L atin llnum flax) from which the articles m entioned were made. In German
th e same concept is die W asche, i.e. som ething th at can be washed, a
process, not th e m aterial, not the colour. The concept from which all
meanings branch off is known as the inner form of the word.
So we see th at different properties, essential, non-essential, o p tio
nal and even accidental m ay be taken to nam e the object. The chosen
property in the course of tim e loses its sem antic significance and depen
dence on th e inner form and the word begins to function
in the language
as a generic term , a sign for various objects.
Here we approach the theory of signs, which is so im portant in under
stan d in g the relativ e character of language units and th eir functioning.
By a sign, generally speaking, u'e understand one m aterial object
capable of denoting another object or idea. The essential property of a
sign is its re la tiv e ly conventional character. A sign does not possess
the properties of the object it denotes. It is made to denote another ob
ject by its very nature. In other words, people impose on certain objects
the q u a lity to denote other objects. Thus, a fla g is the sign of a nation
(state), a cross is th e sign of C hristianity, a plain gold rin g is the sign of
m arriage, a uniform is the sign of a definite calling or profession, a crown
is th e sign of m onarchy. These are sign-sym bols. There are also signs
which are not m aterial objects.
The science th a t deals w ith the general theory of signs is called s e
m i o t i c s . It em braces different system s of signs, traffic signs, com
m unication between different species oi living beings, etc.
The following is a widely recognized definition of a sign:
A sign is a material, sensuously perceived object (phenomenon,
action) appearing in the process of cognition and communication in the
capacity of a representative (substitute) of another object (or objects)
and used for receiving, storing, recasting and transforming information
about this object. 1
Signs are generally used in a definite system showing the in terrela
tions and interdependence of the com ponents of the system . This system
is called a c o d e . Thus we speak of a language code which consists of
different signs lexical, phonetic, m orphological, syntactical and sty
listic. E very code is easily recognized by its users, they understand the
natu re, m eaning, significance and interrelation of the signs com prising
the given code. M oreover, the user of the code m ust be well aware of
possible obstacles in deciphering the m eaning of different signs.
This presupposes a prelim inary knowledge not only of the basic
m eanings of th e signs in question bu t also the d erivative m eanings and
the m inim um of semes of each m eaning.
One of the essential features of a sign, as has been stated above, is
its conventional, a rb itra ry character. However, the language system ,
unlike o ther sem iotic system s, has the following d istin ctiv e feature:
having once been established and having been in circulation for some
period of tim e, it becomes resistan t to substitutions. No effort to repla1 JI. . ., 1965, . 9,

61

 a sound, or a m orphem e, or a word, not to m ention a stru ctu ral p attern ,

has been successful. If an innovation is forced by reiterated usage into
th e language-as-a-system it inevitably undergoes a certain m odification
of its m eaning (ideographic or stylistic).
It will be noticed here th a t we often speak of signs and m eanings,
having in m ind words. To clear up possible am biguity let us m ake it
clear th at words are u n its of language which can be com pared to signs,
for they are m aterialized m anifestations of ideas, things, phenom ena,
events, actions, properties and other concepts, whereas m eanings are
th e products of our m ental decisions. The m aterialized m anifestations
of words tak e th e form either of a chain of vowel and consonant sounds
(sound waves) or of a chain of graphical signs which are th e in terp re ta
tion of these sounds. M eanings are not m aterial phenom ena. T hat is why
we frequently m eet th e definition of th e word as having a twofold nature:
m aterial and sp iritu al. The form of th e word which, as has been stated
above, also contains m eaning differs from th e word only in one respect,
viz. it is not independent, in other words, it cannot be used autonom ously.
It is alw ays a p art of a word.
For exam ple, th e word sp irit is a self-sustained unit. B ut the suffix
-al in sp iritu a l is not so, though it possesses both m aterial form and a
m eaning (gram m atical: a u n it th at can form and adjective).
T his contradictory n atu re of a word is th e source by which its sem antic
wholeness, on th e one hand, and its diversity on the other, is caused.
The study of how words g radually develop, change and lose th eir
m eaning and acquire new ones is the subject of lexicology and lex i
cography.
A word can be defined as a unit of language functioning within the
sentence or within a part of it which by its sound or graphical form ex
presses a concrete or abstract notion or a grammatical notion through
one of its meanings and which is capable of enriching its semantic struc
ture by acquiring new meanings and losing old ones.
To explain th e sem antic stru ctu re of a word is not an easy task. O nly
lexicographers know how difficult it is. T his difficulty is m ainly caused
by th e very n atu re of the word. It m ay in some circum stances reveal such
overtones of m eaning as are not elem ents of th e code.
T he following analogy will not come am iss. There are in n atu re sounds
th a t we do not hear, there is light th a t wre do not see, and heat th a t we
do not feel. Special ap p aratu s is necessary to detect these phenom ena.
Almost th e sam e can be said about alm ost every language sign: sound,
m orphem e, word, sentence, stylistic device. These signs can bring to
life subtleties of m eaning w hich are passed unnoticed by the untrained
m ind and which can be detected only through th e em ploym ent of a spe
cial m ethod, called s u p r a l i n e a r
a n a l y s i s . This m ethod
requires some fa ith in in tu itio n . Most scholars, however, rely on w'ellverified facts to th e detrim ent of th e evidence of th e senses.1 Max Born,
th e physicist, gives a well verified exam ple. H e says th at if we speak of
v acillatio n s and waves in space, we necessarily presuppose th e existence
1 Sec . j . ., 19, . 34.

62

of ih e object to w hich the verb v a c illa te refers.1 It will be a violation

of th is w ell-established law if we use a verb not having in m ind (explic
itly or im plicitly) th e object to w hich it refers.
W e have d ealt at some length w ith such concepts as m eaning and sign
because these are th e crucial issues of stylistics. N othing can ever be
achieved in sty listic studies w ithout a thorough understanding of these
highly com plicated notions.
There is a difference in the treatm ent of the p otentialities of language
signs in gram m ar, phonetics and lexicology, on th e one hand, and in
stylistics, on the other. In stylistics we tak e it for granted th a t a word
has an alm ost u n lim ited p o ten tiality of acquiring new m eanings, whereas
in lexicology th is p o ten tiality is restricted to sem antic and gram m atical
accep tab ility . In stylistics the in tu itiv e, and therefore to a very great
extent subjective, perception of m eaning in words is raised to the level
of ac tu ality . T he issue touched upon here is th e well-known contradis
tin ctio n between th e scientific (abstract), intellectually precise percep
tion of world phenom ena and th e sensory, in tu itiv e, vague and uncertain
im pressions of an artistic perception of these same phenom ena. Max Born
has it somewhat differently: The representatives of one group do not
w ant to reject or to sacrifice the idea of the absolute and therefore rem ain
faithful to everything subjective. They create a picture of the world
which is not th e result of a system ic m ethod, but of the unexplained ac
tiv ity of religious, artistic or poetic expressions of other people. H ere
reign religious zeal, aspirations to brotherhood, and often fanaticism ,
intolerance and th e suppression of in tellect... The representatives of
th e opposing group, on the contrary, reject the idea of the absolute. They
discover frequently w ith horror th at inner feelings cannot be expressed
in com prehensible forms. 2
Leaving aside th e rath er am biguous pronouncem ent concerning the
aspiratio n s of those who adhere to th e idea of the absolute, we cannot but
adm it th a t those who reject the in tu itiv e in th e analysis of language phe
nom ena are prone to suppress everything which arises from a sensory
perception of language-in-action, th u s overlooking the fact th at the
in tu itiv e is in th e long run th e result of accum ulated social experience.
It is of param ount im portance in sty listics to bear in m ind th a t con
cepts of objective re ality have different degrees of abstractness. This
is ad eq u ately m anifested in language. A djectives are m ore abstract in
m eaning th a n nouns. Adverbs m ay be considered m ore abstract than
adjectives inasm uch as they usually charecterize an abstract notion,
action or state. C onjunctions and prepositions have a still higher degree
of abstractness because it is not objects as such th at they indicate, but
the correlation of th e concepts involved. Therefore we m ay consider
conjunctions and prepositions, and some au x iliary words as well, to be
on th e border line between lexical and gram m atical categories, or in
term s of m eaning, having a gram m atical m eaning w hich suppresses the
lexical m eaning.
1 Ibid., p. 45.
2 Ibid., p. 13.

63

Within the grammatical classes of words there are also different de

grees of abstractness. Nouns, as is known, are divided into two large class
es, abstract and concrete. But this division does not correspond to the
actual difference in the degree of abstractness. This will be explained
later when we come to illustrate abstractness and concreteness.
A word, as is known, generalizes. Consequently, a word will always
denote a concept, no matter whether it names a definite object or em
braces all the objects of a given kind.
The problem of abstractness, and especially the degree of abstractness,
is of vital importance in stylistics in more than one respect. Stylistics
deals not only with the aesthetic and emotional impact of the language.
It also studies the means of producing impressions in our mind. Impres
sion is the first and rudimentary stage of concept. But the concept through
a reverse process may build another kind of impression. Impressions
that are secondary to concepts, in other words, which have been born by
concepts, are called i m a g e r y .
Imagery is mainly produced by the interplay of different meanings.
Concrete objects are easily perceived by the senses. Abstract notions are
perceived by the mind. When an abstract notion is by the force of the
mind represented through a concrete object, an image is the result.
Imagery may be built on the interrelation of two abstract notions or two
concrete objects or an abstract and a concrete one.
Three types of meaning can be distinguished, which we shall call
l o g i c a l , e m o t i v e and n o m i n a l respectively.
L o g i c a l m e a n i n g is the precise naming of a feature of the
idea, phenomenon or object, the name by which we recognize the whole
of the concept. This meaning is also synonymously called referential
meaning or direct meaning. We shall use the terms logical and referen
tial as being most adequate for our purpose.
Referential meanings are liable To change. As a result the referential
meanings of one word may denote different concepts. It is therefore nec
essary to distinguish between primary and secondary referential, or
logical, meaning.
Thus, the adverb inwardly'has the primary logical meaning of in
ternally, or within. Its secondary logical meanings are: towards the
centre', mentally, secretly, which are to some extent derived from the
primary meaning.1 Some dictionaries give a very extended list of pri
mary and secondary logical meanings, and it is essential for stylistic
purposes to distinguish them, as some stylistic devices are built on the
interplay of primary and secondary logical meanings.
All the meanings fixed by authoritative English and American dic
tionaries comprise what is called t h e s e m a n t i c s t r u c t u r e
o f t h e w r d. The meanings that are to be found in speech or writing
and which are accidental should not be regarded as components of the
semantic structure of the word. They may be transitory, inasmuch as
they depend on the context. They are contextual meanings.
1 Such meanings are therefore also called d e r i v a t i v e

64

meanings.

Let us com pare th e m eaning of th e word presence in the following two

sentences.
T he governer said th a t he would not allow ihe presence of
federal troops on th e soil of his S tate.
...th e General has been faced w ith th e problem of the country's
presence on foreign soil, th e stubborn resistance of officers and offi
c ia ls...
In th e first sentence the word presence m erely m eans ...th e state of
being present, whereas in th e second sentence the m eaning of the word
expands into ...o ccu p atio n , i.e. the seizure and control of an area, es
pecially foreign territo ry , by m ilitary forces.
T he first m eaning is the dictionary m eaning of th e word. The second
m eaning is a contextual one. It lives only in the given tex t and disappears
if th e context is altered. However, there are definite reasons to assume
th a t a num ber of d erivative m eanings are given place in dictionaries on
th e basis of contextual m eanings. W hen th e tw o m eanings clearly co-exist
in th e u tterance, we say there is an interaction of dictionary and contex
tu al m eanings. W hen only one m eaning is perceived by the reader, we are
sure to find th is m eaning in dictionaries as a d erivative one.
Som etim es it is d ifficult to decide w hether there is a sim ultaneous
m aterializatio n of tw o dictionary logical m eanings or an interplay of a
d ictio n ary and a contextual m eaning. T he difficulty is caused, on the
one hand, by insufficient objective criteria of w hat should be fixed in
d ictio n aries as already established language facts and, on the other hand,
by delib erate p o litical, aesthetic, m oral and other considerations on the
p a rt of th e com pilers of th e dictionaries.
T hus, in B y ro n s use of th e word arise in th e line Awake, ye sons
of S pain, aw ake, arise 1 th e word arise has the long-established m eaning
of re v o lt. It is not contextual any longer. B ut no English or Am erican
d ictio n ary fixes th is p articu lar m eaning in th e sem antic structure of the
w ord, and it is left to the ab ility of th e atten tiv e reader to supply the
obvious m eaning.
T he sam e can be said about the word appeasement. T here is an im pli
cit difference in th e treatm ent of th e sem antic structure of th is word in
B ritish and A m erican dictionaries. In no B ritish dictionary will you
find th e new d eriv ativ e m eaning, viz. a sacrifice of m oral principle in
order to av ert aggression. Some m odern Am erican dictionaries include
th is m eaning in th e sem antic stru ctu re of th e word appeasem ent. The
reason for th e difference is ap p aren tthe B ritish prim e m inister Cham
b erla in in 1938 played an ignoble role in M unich, sacrificing Czechoslova
k ia to H itle rs greed. T he new m eaning th a t was attached to th e word (in
connection w ith th is historical event) cannot now be removed from its
sem antic structure.
A d ictio n ary m eaning is m aterialized in the context; a contextual
m eaning is born in the context. H ow ever, dictionaries, though the only
re lia b le sources of inform ation regarding the m eanings of a given word,
ap p ly very diverse and even contradictory principles in ascertaining
th e general accep tab ility and recognition of some of th e shades of m ea
n ing w hich are in process of being shaped as independent m eanings.
3 2376

65

Thus, to excuse oneself in the m eaning of to leave, as in Soames excused

him self directly after d in n er (Galsworthy); or the m eaning of a thought a
little a- in M liioug! t m ore fashionably th a n u su al (Galsworthy) are
fixed as separate m eanings in some m odern B ritish and A m erican dice'onaries, but are neglected in others.
Every word po; isses an enormous p o ten tiality for generating new
m eanings. This p o v er is often under-estim ated by scholars who regard
a word as a u n it com plete in itself and acknowledge a new-born m eaning
only when it has firm ly asserted itself in language and become accepted
by th e m ajority of th e language com m unity. B ut not to see the laten t
possibilities of a word is not to understand th e tru e n atu re of th is unit
of language.
The p o ten tiality of words can also be noted in regard to e m t i v e
m e a n i n g. E m otive m eaning also m aterializes a concept in th e word,
but, u n lik e logical m eaning, em otive m eaning has reference not directly
to things or phenom ena of objective re ality , but to th e feelings and em o
tions of th e speaker tow ards these things or to his em otions as such.
Therefore th e em otive m eaning bears reference to things, phenom ena or
ideas through a kind of evaluation of them . For exam ple:
I feel so darned lonely. (Graham Green, The Q uiet A m erican )
H e classified him as a m an of m onstrous selfishness; he did not
w ant to see th at I nife descend, but he felt it for one great fleeting
in stant. (London)
The italicized words have no logical m eaning, only em otive m eaning.
T heir function is to reveal th e subjective, evaluating a ttitu d e of th e w rit
er to th e things or events spoken of. M en-of-letters them selves are well
aw are th a t words m ay reveal a subjective evaluation and som etim es use
it for d efinite sty listic effects, thus calling th e atten tio n of th e reader to
the m eaning of such words. Thus, for exam ple, in the following passage
from The M an of P roperty by G alsw orthy:
She was not a flir t, not even a coquettewords dear to the heart
of his generation, which loved to define things by a good, broad, in a
dequate word but she was dangerous.
H ere th e words flirt and coquette re ta in some of their logical m ean
ing. They m ean a person (particularly a girl) who endeavours to a ttra c t
the opposite sex, who toys w ith her adm irers. B ut both words have a c q u ir
ed an ad d itional significance, viz. a derogatory shade of m eaning. T his
shade m ay grow into an independent m eaning and in th is case w ill be
fixed in d ictionaries as having a special em otive m eaning, as, for exam ple,
have th e words fabulous, terrifying, stunning, spectacular, swell, top,
sm art, cute, massive and the like.
M any words acquire an em otive m eaning only in a definite context.
In th a t case we say th a t th e word has a c o n t e x t u a l e m o t i v e
m e a n i n g .

Stephen U llm ann holds th a t

O nly th e context can show w hether a word should be taken as
a purely objective expression, or w hether it is p rim arily designed to
66

convey and arouse em otions. T his is obvious in th e case of words

like liberty, and justice, w hich are frequently charged w ith emotional
im plications. B ut even colourless everyday term s m ay, in freak con
tex ts, acquire unexpected em otional overtones, as, for instance, w all
in th is passage from a M idsum m er N ight's Dream:
And th ou, w all, sweet, lovely w all,
...T h an k s, courteous v a i l ... wicked w a ll. 1
U llm an n s point of view is only p artly true. T here are, of course,
words w hich, as we have pointed out, m ay acquire em otive m eaning in a
context. O rd in arily though, and p articu larly when taken as isolated
lexical u n its, they can hardly be said to possess em otive m eaning. B ut
U llm an n s opinion th a t only th e context can inject em otive m eaning
in to w ords, contradicts th e facts. In the vocabulary of alm ost any E uro
pean language th ere are words w hich are undoubtedly bearers of em otive
m eaning. These are interjections, oaths or swear-words, exclam atory
words (variants of interjections) and a great num ber of q u a lita tiv e or
intensifying adjectives some of w hich have already been m entioned. The
em otive m eaning of some of these classes of w'ords is so strong th at it
suppresses th e co-existing logical m eaning, as, for exam ple, in stunning
and sm art. It is significant th a t these words are explained in dictionaries
by m eans of synonym ous words charged w ith strong em otional im plica
tions, i. e. words th a t direct th e m ind not to objective things, ideas or
phenom ena b u t to th e feelings. Thus, th e word sm art is explained in
T he P enguin English D ictionary thus: stinging, pungent, keen; vig
orous, brisk; clever, intelligent; im pertinent; shrewd; w itty; spruce,
neat, gay, fashionable! 2
O ther classes of words w ith em otive m eaning have entirely lost their
logical m eaning and function in th e language as interjections. Such
words as alas, oh, ah, pooh, darn, gosh and th e like have practically no
logical m eaning at all; words like the devil, C hrist, God, goodness graci
ous, etc., are frequently used only in th eir em otive m eaning. The same
can be said about th e words bloody, damn and other expletives.
C ontrary to Stephen U llm ann, we th in k th a t em otive m eaning is
inherent in a definite group of words and adherent to m any words de
noting em otions and feelings even when taken out of th e context.
U llm an n s exam ple of the word w all as bearing strong em otive m ean
ing does not stand scrutiny. H e overlooks th e real bearers of e m o th e
m eaning, viz. th e words preceding or following it: 0 , sweet, lovely (these
th ree words are repeated several tim es), courteous, wicked. It goes w ithout
saying th a t these words strongly co lo u r3 th e word w all, b u t no em otive
m eaning as a counterpart of logical m eaning can be observed here.

1 Ullmann, Stephen. W ords and their Use. Frederick M uller, L dn, 1951, p. 28.
2 The Penguin English D ictionary edited by G. N. Garmonsway.
3 C o l o u r i n g is a loose term . I t is used here as a synonym to contextual em otive
m eaning. B ut it m av be used further on v b i v w ant to point ou t the effect on the u t
terance as a whole of a word v ith a stic n . m otive meaning.

3*

67

E m otive m eaning of w ords plays an im portant role in stylistics.

Therefore it should never be underrated. A very keen eye or ear will
alw ays distinguish elem ents of em otive m eaning. Em otional colouring
m ay be regarded as a rudim entary stage of em otive m eaning. T his is
generally fixed as an independent m eaning in good dictionaries. A nything
recognizable as ha\ ing a strong im pact on our senses m ay be considered
as having em otive m eaning, either dictionary or contextual.
And finally we come to n m i n a I m e a n i n g . T here are words
w hich, w hile expressing concepts, indicate a p articu lar object out of
a class. In other words, these u n its of the language serve th e purpose of
singling out one d efinite and singular object out of a whole class of sim
ilar objects. These words are classified in gram m ars as proper nouns.
T he n atu re of these words can be understood if we have a clear idea of
th e difference between the two m ain aspects of a word: nom ination and
signification. These aspects are also called reference and significa
tio n or den o tatio n and connotation. T he difference can roughly be
illu strated by th e following exam ple.
Let us tak e th e word table. The first thing th a t appears in our m ind
is the general notion deprived of any concrete features or properties. This
is th e signification. B ut by th e word table we m ay also denote a definite
table. In th is case we use a definite article and the m eaning becomes nom
inating. B ut we m ay also fix a definite nam e to the object w hich we
w ant to be recognized as a unique object because of its peculiar proper
ties. In th is way proper nam es appear. T heir function is not to single
out one of th e objects of th e class for one p articu lar occasion, as in the
case w ith th e use of the definite article, bu t to m ake it th e bearer of the
properties w hich our m ind has attached to it. Thus nom inal m eaning is
a d eriv ativ e logical m eaning. To distinguish nom inal m eaning from
logical m eaning th e former is designated by a capital letter. Such words
as S m ith , Longfellow, Everest, Black Sea, Thames, Byron are said to
have nom inal m eaning. T he logical m eaning from which they originate
m ay in th e course of tim e be forgotten and therefore not easily traced
back. Most proper nam es have nom inal m eanings which m ay be regarded
as homonyms of common nouns w ith th eir logical or em otive m eanings,
as Hope, Browning, Taylor, Scotland Black, Chandler, Chester (from the
L atin word castra cam p). Hence logical m eanings which nom inate an
object, at th e sam e tim e signify the whole class of these objects. N om inal
m eanings w hich nom inate an object are deprived of th e latter function
because they do not represent a class. It m ust be rem em bered, however,
th a t th e nom inal m eaning will alw ays be secondary to th e logical m ean
ing.
The process of developm ent of m eaning may go still further. A nom
inal m eaning m ay assum e a logical m eaning due to certain external cir
cum stances. The result is th a t a logical m eaning takes its origin in a nom
inal m eaning. Some feature of a person which has m ade him or her no
ticeable and w hich is recognized by th e com m unity is m ade th e basis
for the new' logical m eaning. Thus dunce (a dullard, a stupid person) is
derived from th e personal nam e. D u n s Scotus, a m edieval scholastic;
hoolgian (a ruffian) is probably derived from th e nam e of a rowdy fam
68

ily, cf. th e Irish nam e H ouligan, in a comic song popular about 1885;
boycott (refuse to do business w ith, com bine together against a person by
breaking off all relatio n s w ith him ). T he verb boycott was first used in
1880 to describe th e action of the L and League tow ards C aptain Boycott,
an Irish landlord. The nom inal m eanings of these words have now faded
aw ay and we perceive only one, th e logical m eaning. B ut som etim es the
process of attach in g nom inal m eaning to a word w ith a logical m eaning
takes place, as it were, before our eyes. This is done for purely stylistic
purposes and is regarded as a special sty listic device (see p. 164).

P A R T II

STYLISTIC CLASSIFICATION
OF TH E E N G L ISH VOCABULARY

I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Like any linguistic issue th e classification of th e vocabularly here

suggested is for purely sty listic purposes. T his is im portant for th e course
inasm uch as some SDs are based on th e in terp lay of different sty listic
aspects of words. It follows then th a t a discussion of th e w ays the English
v ocabulary can be classified from a sty listic point of view should be
given proper atten tio n.
In order t o get a m ore or less clear idea of the word-stock of any lan
guage, it m ust be presented as a system , th e elem ents of w hich areT nterconnected. in terrelated and yet independent. Some linguists, who
clearly see th e system atic character of language as a whole deny, how
ever, th e possibility of system atically classifying th e vocabulary. They
say th a t th e word-stock of any language is so large and so heterogeneous
th at it is im possible to form alize it and therefore present it in any system .
T he words o f a la n g u a g e are thought of as a chaotic body w hether viewed
from th eir origjm and, developm ent or from th eir present state.
Indeed, the'coinag^ of hew lexical u n its, th e developm ent of m eaning,
th e differentiation of w'ords according to th eir sty listic evaluation and
th eir spheres of usage, th e correlation between m eaning and' concept and
other problem s connected w ith vocabulary are so m ultifarious and varied
th a t it is difficult to grasp th e system atic character of th e word-stock of
a language, though it co-exists w ith the system s of other levels phone
tics, m orphology and syntax.
, To deny th e system atic character of th e word-stock of a language
am ounts to denying th e system atic character of language as a whole,
words being elem ents in th e general system of language.
T h e word-stock of a language m ay be represented as a definite system
in which different aspects of words m ay be singled out as interdependent^
A special branch of linguistic science lexicology has done m uch to
classify v o cab u lary . A glance at th e contents of any book on lexicology
w iirs u ffic e to ascertain the o u tlin e of th e system of the word-stock of
th e given language.
1 For our purpose, i.e. for linguistic stylistics, a special ty p e of classi
fication, viz. sty listic classification, is m ost im portant,
accordance w ith the] already-m entioned [division of language into
literary and colloquial, we m ay represent th e whole of th e word-stock
70

of th e E nglish language as being divided into three m ain layers: the

literary
I a y e r, the n e u t r a l l a y e r and the c o l l o
q u i a l l e le literary and the colloquial lasers contain a num
ber of subgroup^ each o f which has a property it shares witlT a llth e 's u b groups w ith in th e layer. This common property, which unites th e differ
ent grOhps of words w ith in th e layer, m ay be caffed its~a?pect7T h e aspecToTthe literary layerTs its ffiafkedly bookish character. It is th is tFTat
m akes th e layer m ore or less stable. The aspect oTThc colloquial la>er
of words is its lively spoken character. I f is th is th a t m akes it unstable,
fleeting.
~
T he aspect of th e neutral layer is itsu n iv ersaljch aracter. T h at m eans
it is unrestricted in its use. It can be em ployed in all styles of language
and in all spheres of hum an activ ity . It is th is th at m akes th e layer th e
m ost stable of all.
The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitim ate
m em bers of th e English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character.
The colloquial layer of words as qualified in m ost English or Am er
ican dictionaries is not infrequently lim ited to a definite language
com m unity or confined to a special locality where it circulates.
I
T he literary vocabulary consists of th e following groups of words:
I 1. common literary ; 2. term s and learned words; 3. poetic words; 4.
/ archaic words; 5. barbarism s and ^ foreign words; 6. literary coinages
I including nonce-words.
T he colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: 1. com
m on 'TioIloqinar- w o rd sr2 T sla n g ; 3. jargonism s; 4. professional words;
5. dialectal words; 6. vulgar words; 7. colloquial coinages.
T h e common lite rary , qeutral and common colloquial words are
grouped under th e term s t a n d a r d
English
vocabu
l a r y . O ther groups in the literary layer are regarded as special literacy
^
voc^b u larw an d those in th e colloquial layer are regraded as special ~ ^ u i a l ^ n o r w f f e r a r y ) vocabulary^ T he accom panying diagram on p: 71
illu strates th is classification graphically.
2. NEUTRAL, COMMON LITERARY A ND COMMON COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY

V e t r a I or r d s, which form th e bulk of the English voeaby, are used in both literary and colloquial language. N eutral words
are th e m ain source of synonym y and polysemyTiIt is the neutral stoc
of W'ords th at is so prolific in the production of new' m eanings.
The w ealth of the neutral stratum of words is often overlooked.
T his is due to th eir inconspicuous character. B ut th eir faculty for as
sum ing new m eanings and generating new sty listic varian ts is often
q u ite am azing. T his generative powder of th e neutral words in the Eng
lish language is m u ltip lied by th e very n ature of th e language itself.
(_It has been estim ated th a t most neutral E nglish words are of m onosyllabic
character J as, in th e process of developm ent from Old English to
M odern E nglish, m ost of th e p arts of speech lost their distinguishing
suffixes. T his phenom enon had led to th e developm ent of conversion as
72

th e m ost productive m eans of w ord-building. W ord com pounding is not

so productive as conversion or word deriv atio n , where a new word is
farm ed because of a shift in the p a r to f speech in th e first case and by the
ad d itio n of an affix in the second, [t/n lik e all o ther groups, the neutral
group of words cannot ue co n sid ereu as having a special sty listic colour
ing, whereas both literary and colloquial words h ave a definite stylistic
colouring.
\_C m m o n l i t e r a r y
w o r d s a re chiefly used in w ritin g and
in polished sp ee ch lO ne can alw ays tell a Titerary word from a colloquial
Word. The reason for this lies in certain objective features of th e literary
layer of words. W hat these objective features are, is difficult to say be
cause as yet no objective crifefia have been worked out. B ut one of them
un d o u b ted ly is th a t lite rary u n its stand in opposition to colloquial
u n its. T his is especially apparent w en nairs ot sxnonvms. literary and
"colloquial, can be formed which stand in contrasting relation.
The following synonym s illu stra te the relations th a t exist between
th e n eu tral, literary and colloquial words in the E nglish language.
Colloquial
kid
daddy
chap
get o u t
go on
teenager
flapper
( g o ahead
| get going
( m ake a move

N eu tra l
child
father
fellow
go aw ay
continue
boy (girl)
young g irl
I begin
\ s ta rt

L ite ra ry
infant
parent
associate
retire
proceed
y o u th (m aiden)
m aiden
com m ence

It goes w ithout saying th a t bhese synonym s are not only sty listic
but ideographic as well, i. e. there is a definite, though slight, sem antic
difference'betw een th e words. B ut th is is alm ost alw ays the case w ith
synonym s. T here are very few absolute synonym s in English just as
there are in any language. The m ain distinction between synonym s re
m ains sty listic. B ut sty listic difference m ay be of various kinds: it
m ay lie in th e em otional tension connoted in a word, or in the sphere of
ap p licatio n , or in th e degree of the quality denoted. C olloquial words
are alw ays m ore em otionally coloured th an literary*ones. The neutral
stratu m of words, as the term itself im plies, has no degree of em otiveness,
nor have they any distinctions in th e sphere of usage.
Both literary and colloquial words have th eir upper and lower
ranges. T he lower range o T lite rary words approaches the neutral layer
and has a m arkedly obvious tendency to pass into th at layer. T he same
m ay Be said of the upper range of the cdTToquial layer: it can very easily
pass into th e neutral layeE The lines oFclem arcation between common
colloquial an tlT ieu tral, on the one hand, and common literary and
n eu tral, on th e other, are blurred. It is here th at the process of inter
penetration of the sty listic stra ta becomes most apparent
73

Still th e extrem es rem ain antagonistic and therefore are often used
to bring about a collision of m anners of speech for special stylistic pur
poses The difference in the stylistic aspect of words m ay colour the
whole of an 'u tteran ce .
In th is exam ple from F an n y s First P la y (Shaw), the difference
between th e common lite rary and common colloquial vocabulary is
clearly seen.
DORA: Oh, I ve let it out. H ave I? (contem plating Ju g g in s
approvingly as he places a chair fo r her between the table and the
sideboard). B ut hes the right sort: 1 can see th at (buttonholing him).
You wont let it out dow nstairs, old m an, will you?
JUGG INS: The fam ily can rely on m y absolute discretion.
The words in Ju g g inss answer are on the border-line between com
mon literary and n eu tral, whereas the w ords and expressions used by
Dora are clearly common colloquial, not bordering on neutral.
This exam ple from D avid C opperfield (Dickens) illu strates the use
of literary English words w hich do not border on neutral:
My dear C opperfield, said Mr. M icawber, this is luxuri
ous. This is a way of life which rem inds me of a period when I u'as
myself in a state of celibacy, and M rs. M icawber had not yet been
solicited to plight her faith at the H ym eneal a lta r.
H e m eans, solicited by him , Mr. C opperfield, said Mrs. Micawber, archly .H e cannot answer for others.
My d ear, returned Mr. M icawber w ith sudden seriousness, I have
no desire to answer for others. I am too well aw are th a t when, in the
inscrutable decrees of F ate, you were reserved for me, it is possible
you m ay have been reserved for one destined, after a protracted strug
gle, at length to fall a v ictim to pecuniary involvem ents of a com pli
cated nature. I understand your allusion, m y love, I regret it, bu t I
can bear it.
M icawber! exclaim ed Mrs. M icawber, in tears. H ave I de
served this! I, who never have deserted you; who never will desert
you, M icawber!
My love, said Mr. M icawber, m uch affected, you w'ill forgive,
and our old and tried friend Copperfield w ill, I am sure, fo rg h e the
m om entary laceration of a wounded sp irit, m ade sensitive by a recent
collision w ith th e M inion of Power in other words, w ith a rib ald
Turncock attached to th e w aterw orks and will p ity , not condemn,
its excesses
T here is a certain analogy between the interdependence of common
literary words and neutral one . th e one hand, and common collo
q u ial words and neutral ones, on th e other. B oth sets carTblTviewed ~as
being in in v aria n tv a ria n t relations. T he neutral vocabulary m ay
be viewed as th e in variant of th e standard E nglish vocabulary. The
stock of w'ords form ing the neutral stratum should in th is case be regarded
as an abstraction. T he words of th is stratu m are generally deprived of any
74

concrete associations and refer to th e concept m ore or less directly.

Synonyms of neutral words, both colloquial and literary , assum e a far
greater degree of concreteness. They generally present the sam e notions
not ab stractly but as a m ore or less concrete image, th a t is, in a form
perceptible by th e senses. This p erceptibility by the senses causes subject
ive ev aluations of th e notion in question, or a m ental image of th e con
cept. Sometim es an im pact of a definite kind on the reader or hearer is
th e aim lying behind the choice of a colloquial or a literary word rather
th a n a neu tral one.
In th e diagram (p. 71), c o m m o n
colloquial
vocab
u l a r y is represented as overlapping into the standard English vocab
u lary and is therefore to be considered part of it. It borders both on
th e neutral vocabulary and on the special colloquial vocabulary which,
as we shall see later, falls out of standard English altogether. Ju st as
com m orT literary words lack hom ogeneity so do commsti'C.Olfoquial
w ords and set expressions. Some ol th e lexical item s belonging to This
stratu m are close to the non-'standard colloquial groups such as jargonisms, professionalism s, etc. These are on the border-line between the
comrnofrcolloauTaT vocabularv and th e special colloquial or non-standard
v ocaEuIary. Other~w ortIs~ approach th e neutral bulk of the ErfglisK
Vocabulary. Thus, the words teenager (a young girl or young m an) and
h ippie (h ip p y) (a young person who leads an unordered and unconvention
al life) are colloquial words passing into the neutral vocabulary. They
are g rad u ally losing their non-standard character and becoming w idely
recognized. However, they have not lost their colloquial association and
therefore still rem ain in th e colloquial stratu m of the English vocabulary.
So also are th e following words and expressions: take (in as I take i t = as
I understand); to go fo r (to be attracted by, like very m uch, as in You
th in k she still goes for the guy?); g u y (young man); to be gone on ( = t o be^
m adly in love w ith); pro ( = a professional, e. g. a professional boxer,
tennis-player, etc.).
T he spoken la iguage abounds in set expressions w hich are collo
quial in character, e. g. all sorts of things, ju s t a bit, How is life treaW ig
you?, : o,~WRdI time do you make i t ?, to hob-nob ( = to be very friendly
w ith, to d rin k together), so much the better, to be sick and tired of, to be
up to something.
The sty listic function of the different strata of the English vocabu
lary depends not so much on the inner qualities of each of th e groups,
as on th eir interaction when they are opposed to one another. Howrever,
th e qu alities them selves are not unaffected by the function of th e words,
inasm uch as these qualities have been acquired-in certain environm ents.
It is interesting to note th a t anything w 'ritten assumes a greater degree
of significance th an what is only spoken. If the spoken takes the place
of th e w ritten or vice versa, it m eans th a t we are faced W'ith a stylistic
device.
C ertain set expressions have been coined w ithin lite rary Engl sh
and th eir use in o rdinary speech will inevitably m ake the utterance
sound bookish. In other words, it will become literary . The following
75

are exam ples of set expressions which can be considered literary: in

accordance w ith, w ith regard to, by virtue of, to speak at great length,
to lend assistance, to draw a lesson, responsibility rests.
3. SPECIAL LITERARY VOCABULARY

a) Terms
All scientists are linguists to some extent. T hey are responsible
for devising a consistent term inology, a skeleton language to talk about
their subject-m atter. P hilologists and philosophers of speech are in
the peculiar position of having to evolve a special language to talk
about language itself. 1
T his quotation m akes clear one of the essential characteristics of a
term , viz. its highly conventional character. A term is generally very
easily coined and~easTTy"~accepled7_ai id new coinages as easily replace
out-dated ones.
T his sensitiv ity to .alte ratio n is m ainly due to th e necessity of re
flecting in language th e cognitive process m aintained by scholars in
analysing different concepts and phenom ena. One, of the m ost characte
r istic f e a t u r .. n f t p r m is it d ire t re'leva i c t the a s te r n or set O t term s
used in a P articular science, discipline or a rt, i. e. to its nom enclature.
W hen a term is used our m ind im m ediately associates it w ith a ceFta in nom enclature. A term is directly connected w ith th e concept it de
notes. A term , u n lik e other words, d irects the m ind to th e essential
q u ality of th e thing, phenom enon or acfion as seen by th e scientist in the
light of his own conceptualization.
A word is organically one w ith its m eaning; likewise a term is
one w ith a concept. C onceptualization leaves, as it were, language
behind, although the words rem ain as (scientific or philosophical)
term s. L in guistically the difference is im portant in th a t term s are
m uch m ore easily su b stitu tab le by other term s th an are words by other
words: it is easier to replace, say, the term phonology by phonem ics
(provided I m ake it clear w hat is m eant), th an to replace everyday
words like ta b le and chair by other w ords. 2
Term s are m ostly and predom inantly used in special works dealing
w ith the notions of some branch of science) Therefore it m ay be said th at
th ey belong to th e sty le of language of science. B ut th eir use is not con
fined to th is style. They m ay as well appear in other styles in newspa
per style, in p u b licistic and practically in all other exis ting s ty les of
language. B ut th eir function in th is case changes. They do not alw ays
fulfil th e irjbasic functioij. th at of bearing exact1 reference to a given r.one p t. W hen used in the belles-lettres s ty le, for instance, a term m ay
acquire a sty listic function and consequently become a (sporadical)
1 Ullmann, Stephen. W ords and th eir Use. Frederick M uller, Ldn, 1951, p. 107.
2 Verhaar, John W. M . Proceedings of th e -N in th In tern atio n al Congress of Lin
g uists The Hague, 1966, p. 378.

76

SD. T his happens when a term is used in such a way th a t tw o m eanings

"are m ater ial ized si mu 11 a n e o u si .
The function of term s, if encountered in other st\le s. is either to indi
cate th e technical peculiarities of the subject dealt w ith, or to m ake
some reference to the occupation of a character whose language would
n a tu ra lly contain special words and expressions. |
In th is connection it is interesting to analyse the sty listic effect of
th e m edical term inology used by . . Cronin in his novel The C itadel.
T he frequent use of m edical term s in the novel is explained by its subjectm atter th e life of a physician and also by the fact th a t the w riter
him self is a physician and finds it natural to use m edical term inology.
I T he p ilin g up of difficult and special term s hinders the readers
u nderstanding of th e text if he is not a specialist even"when the w riter
"sTrives'tb thernl Moreover, such an accum ulation of special ter
m inology often suggests th at the author is displaying his erudition.
M axim Gorki said th a t term s m ust not be overused. It has been pointed
out th a t those who are learning use far m ore com plicated term s th an those
who have already learned.
There is an interesting process going on in the developm ent of any
language. W ith th e increase of general education and th e expansion of
technique to satisfy the ever-growing needs and desires of m ankind* m any
words th a t were once term s have gradually lost their q u ality as term s
and have passed into the common literary or eveir im lrn l )
T his process m ay be called de-term inization . Such words as ra d io ,
telev isio n and th e like have long been 111 common use and th eir term i
nological character is no longer e v id e n tj
B rian Foster in his book T he Changing English Language writes:
...science is one of the most powerful influences m oulding the Eng
lish language into fresh shapes at the present tim e. Scientific w riting
is not highly esteemed for its elegance -o n e recalls th e ta le of the scientist
who alluded to a certain dom ain of enquiry as a 4 irgin field pregnant
w ith possib ilities but scientific jargon and modes of thought inevitably
come to th e fore in a society which equates civilization w ith chromium plated bath taps. Nor does the process date from yesterday, for we have
long been talk in g of people being galvanized into ac tiv ity or going
full steam ah ead , but now adays th is tendency to prefer technical im a
gery is ever-increasing, so th at science can tru ly be said to have sparked
off a ch ain-reaction in the linguistic sphere. 1
T his quotation clear shows how easily term s and term inological
com binations become de-term inized. W e hardly notice som etim es the
term inological origin of the words we use.
BrrCsnch de-term inized words may by the force of a stylistic device
become re-established in their t erm inological function, thus assum ing a
twofold ap p licatio n , which is the feature required of a sty listic device.
B ut when term s are used in their norm al function as term s in a work
of belles-lettres, they are or ought to be easily understood from the con
tex t so th a t the desired effect in depicting the situ atio n w ill be secured.
1 Foster, Brian. The Changing English Language. Penguin Books, 1971, p. 12.

77

H ere is an exam ple of a m oderate use of special term inology bordering

on common literary vocabulary.
There was a long conver ation a long w ait. H is father cam.e
back to say it was doubtful w hether they could m ake the loan. E ight
per cent, then being secured for m oney, was a sm all ra te of interest,
considering its need. For ten per cent Mr. Kuzel m ight m ake a callloan. F rank went back to his em ployer, whose com m ercial choler
rose at th e rep o rt. (Theodore D reiser, The F inancier)
Such term s as lo an , T a te of in tere st, and th e phrase to secure for
m oney are w idely known financial term s which to th e m ajority of the
English and A m erican re ad in g pubTTc~need no explanation. The term s
used here do not bear any special m eaning. Moreover, if they are not
understood they m ay to some extent be neglected. It will suffice if th e
reader has a generaT idea, vague th o u g tfit may be, of the actual m eaning
of th e term s used. The m ain task of the w riter in th is passage is not to
explain th e process of business negotiations, bu t to create th e environ
m ent of a business atm osphere.
In th is exam ple th e term s retain th eir ordinary m eaning though th eir
function in th e text is not exactly term inological. It is m ore nearly
^ stvlisTirj- inasm uch as here the term s serve the purpose of characterizing
th e commercial sp irit of the hero of the novel. H owever, they are not
J iL b v J je c a u s e ffieyTail to m eet th e m ain requirem ent of an SD.
y T h e following is an exam ple where a term is used as an SD. '
W hat a fool Raw don Crawley has been, Clump replied, to go
and m arry a governess. T here was som ething about th e girl too.
Green eyes, fair skin, pretty figure, fam ous frontal development,"
Squill rem arked. (W. At. Thackeray)
T he com bination frontal developm ent is term inological in character
(used som etim es in anatom y). B ut being preceded by the word fam ous
used in th e sense in dicated by the S horter Oxford D ictionary as a strong
expression of approval (chiefly colloquial); excellent, cap ital th e whole
expression assumes a specific sty listic function due to the fact th a t
frontal developm ent i s (used both in its term inological aspect and in
its logical m eaning th e breast of a w om an.
Another exam ple of th e sam e kind term s becoming SDs:
I should like, said young Jolvon, to lecture on it: PR O PER TY
AND Q U A L IT IE S O F A FORSYTE. This little anim al, disturbed
by the ridicule of his own sort, is unaffected in his m otions by the
laughter of strange creatures (you and I). H e red itarily disposed to
m yopia, he recognizes only the persons and h ab itats of his own spe
cies, among which he passes an existence of com petitive tra n q u ility .
(Galsworthy)
In th is excerpt th e twofold application of m eaningsterm inological
and sty listic is achieved by the following m eans: the verb to lecture
(o n ...) and th e title of the subject P roperties and qualities (of a For
sy te) direct th e m ind to the dom ain of science, i. e. they are used in a

78

term inological sense. B ut when they are followed b y a word w ith nom inal
m eaning (Forsyte) they assum e an additional m eaning dTstvli.sllirune/ 7
This clash of incongruous notions arrests the m ind and forces it to re-evalu ate th e term inological m eaning of th e w ords which aim at supporting
th e pseudo-biological and m edical aspect of the message this being
contained in th e words so rt, creature, little an im al, species,
h a b ita ts, m y o p ia. This aspect is also backed up by such literary
words and w ord-com binations as tra n q u ility and passes an existence
w hich are in full accord w ith the dem ands of a lecture.
W henever th e term s used in th belles-lettres style set the reader at
odds w ith th e tex t, we can register a sty listic effect caused H thcr by a
specific use of term s in their proper m eaning, or by a sim ultaneous r e a li
zation of two meanings.
b) Poetic and Highly Literary Words
P oetic words form a ra th e r insignificant laver of the special literary
vocabulary. They are m ostly archaic or very rarely used hig h ly literary
yvords w h ic h ia im ja t producing an elevated effect. They have a m arked
tendency to aetacn them selves from the common lite rary word-stock and
g rad u ally assum e th e q u ality of term s denoting certain definite notions
and calling forth poetic diction.
P oetic words and expressions are called upon to sustain the special
elevated a tm osphere of po etry . T his m ay be said to be the m ain function
of poetic w&rds.
~~
V. V. Vinogradov gives the following properties of poetic words:
...th e cobweb of poetic words and images veils the re a lity , sty
lizing it according to the established literary norm s and canons.
A w7ord is torn aw ay from its referent. Being draw n into the system
lite ra ry styles, the words are selected and arranged in groups of definite
images, in phraseological series, which grow7 standardized and stale
and are becoming conventional sym bols of definite phenom ena or
characters or of definite ideas or im pressions. 1
P oetical trad itio n has kept alive such archaic words and forms as
yclept {p. p. of th e old verb clipian to call, name); quoth (p. t. of cwedanto speak); eftsoon (eftsona again, soon after), which are used
even by m odern ballad-mongers!) Let us note in passing th a t archaic
words are here to be understoocTas u n its th a t have either entirely gone
out of use, or as words some of whose m eanings have grown archaic, e. g.
hall in th e following line from B yrons C hilde H a ro ld s Pilgrim age:
Deserted is m y own good halt, its hearth is desolate.
It m ust be rem em bered though, th a t not all English poetry m akes
use of poeticism s or poetical term s, as they m ight be nam ed. In the
history of English lite ratu re there were periods, as there were in m any

1 Vinogradov V. V. The S tyle of Pushkin. ., 1941, pp. 89.

79

countries, w hich were characterized by protests against the use of such

conventional sym bols. The literary trends known as classicism and rom
anticism were p articu larly rich in fresh poetic term s.
i Poetical words in an ordinary environm ent m ay also have a ^satirical)
function, as seen .in th is passage from Byron.
- ^ B u t A deline was not indifferent: for
(Now for a common-place!) beneath th e snow,
As a volcano holds the lava more
W ith in et cetera. Shall I go on? No,
I h ate to hunt down a tired metapho
So let the often-used volcano go.
Poor thing: How frequently, by me and others,
It hath been stirred up till its smoke quite smothers!
(Don J u a n )
The satirical function of poetic words and conventional poetic devices
is well revealed in th is stanza. The tired m etaphor and the often-used
volcano are typical of B yrons estim ate of the value of conventional
m etaphors and stereotyped poetical expressions.
SThe striving for the unusualth e characteristic feature of some
kinds of poetry is akin to the sensational and is therefore to be found
not only in poetry, but in m any other styles.
/ ^ X ~modern English literary critic has rem arked th at in journalese
a policem an never goes to an appointed spot; he proceeds to it. The
picturesque reporter seldom talk s of a horse, it is a steed or a charger?
T he sky is the w elkin; the valley is the vale-, fire is th e devouring elem ent...
. Poetical words and word-com binations can be likened to term s in
th a t they do not easily yield to polysem y. They are said to evoke em otive
m eanings jsee p. 66). They colour the utterance w ith a certain air of lo fti
ness, but generally fail to produce a genuine feeling of delight: they are
too hackneyed for th e purpose, too stale. And th a t is th e reason th a t the
excessive use of poeticism s at present calls forth protest and derision
tow ards those who favour th is conventional device^
Such protests have had a long historv. As far back as the 16th century
Shakespeare in a num ber of lines voiced his a ttitu d e toward poeticism s,
considering them as m eans to em bellish poetry. H ere is one of the sonnets
in which he condemns the use of such words.
So is it not w ith me as w ith that Aluse
S tirrd by a painted beauty to his verse.
W ho heaven itself for ornam ent doth use
And every fair w ith his fair doth rehearse,
M aking a couplem ent of proud compare,
W ith sun and m oon, w ith earth and seas rich gems,
W ith A p rils first-born flowers, and all things rare
T h at heavens air in this huge rondure hems.
O, let me, tru e in love, but tru ly w rite,
And then believe me, my love is as fair
As any m o thers child, though not so bright
80

As those gold candles fixd in heavens air:

Let them say m ore th a t like of hearsay well;
I w ill not praise th a t purpose not to sell.
(Sonnet X X I)
It is rem arkable how Shakespeare though avoiding poetic words prop
er uses highly elevated vocabulary in th e first p art of the sonnet (the
octave), such as heavens a ir, rehearse, couplem ent, com pare
(noun), ro n d u re, hem s, in contrast to th e very common vocabulary
of the second part (the sestette).
The very secret of a truely poetic q u ality of a word does not lie in
co n v en tio n ality of usage. On t h e ^ c ^ r a r w j ) poeticism through constant
re p etitio n g rad u ally becomes haclch'^yem 'L ike anything th a t lacks
freshness it fails to evoke a genuinely aesthetic effect and eventually
ca lls forth protest on the part of those who are sensitive to real beauty.
As far back as in 1800 W ordsw orth raised the question of the conven
tional use of words and phrases, which to his m ind should be avoided.
There was (and still persists) a notion called poetic diction which still
m eans th e collection of epithets, periphrases, archaism s, etc., which were
common property to most poets of the 18th century.
However, th e term has now acquired a broader m eaning. Thus Owen
B arfield says:
W hen words are selected and arranged in such a way th at their m ean
ing either arouses or is obviously intended to arouse aesthetic im agi
n atio n , th e result m ay be described as poetic diction.
P oetic diction in the former m eaning has had a long lineage. A ristotle
in his P oetics w rites the following:
The perfection of D iction is for it to be at once clear and not m ean.
T he clearest indeed is th a t m ade up of th e ordinary w'ords for things,
but it is m ean ... th e diction becomes distinguished and non-prosaic by
th e use of u n fam iliar term s, i. e. strange words, m etaphors, lengthened
forms and everything th at deviates from th e ordinary m odes of speech...
A certain adm ixture, accordingly, of unfam iliar term s is necessary.
These, th e strange words, the m etaphor, the ornam ental equivalent, etc.
will save the language from seeming m ean and prosaic, w hile th e ordinary
words in it will secure th e requisite clearness. 2
A good illu stration of the use of poetic words th e bulk of w hich are
archaic is th e following stanza from B yrons C hilde H a ro ld s Pilgrim age.
W hilome (at some past tim e) in A lbion's isle (the oldest nam e of the
island of B ritain ) there dw elt (lived) a youth,
W ho ne (not) in v irtu e s w ays did tak e delight:
B ut spent his days in riot (wasteful living) m ost uncouth (unusual,
strange)
And vex'd (disturbed) w ith m irth (fun) the drowsy ear of Night.
1 Barfield, Owen. Poetic Diction. Ldn, 1952, 2 d e d . (cit. from Princeton Encyclopedia
of Poetry and Poetics, p. 628)
2 A ristotle. Poetics, {cit. from P rinceton Encyclopedia of P o etry and Poetics. P rin
ceton, I9G9, p. 628)

81

All me 1 (interjection expressing regret, sorrow) in sooth (truely) he

was a sham eless w ight (a hum an being)
Sore (severely, harshly) given to reiel (noisy festivity) and ungodly
(wicked) glee (entertainm ent);
Few earth ly things found favour in his sight
Save concubines (prostitutes) and carnal (not spiritual) com panie,
And fla u n tin g (im pudent) wassailers (drunkards; revellers) of high
and low/ degree.
The u s e of poetic words does not as a ru le create the atm osphere of
poetry in th e tru e sense; it is a su b stitu te for real art.
P oetic words are not freely built in contrast to neutral, colloquial
and common literary words, or term s. The commonest m eans is by ^com
pounding, e. g. young-eyed, rosy-fingered.
Some w riters m ake abundant use of this w ord-building m eans. Thus
A rthur H ailey in his novel In High Places has serious-faced, highte ilin g e d , beige-carpeted, tall-backed, horn-rim m ed in alm ost
close proxim ity. There is, however, one m eans of creating new poetic
words still recognized as productive even in present-day E nglish,\ viz.
the use of a contracted form of a word instead of the full one, e. g. c(rear
instead of dreary, sca n t (= sc a n ty ). Sometim es the reverse process leads
to th e b irth of a poeticism , e. g. v a sty ( = v a s t. The vasty deep, i. e.
the ocean); steepy (= ste e p ), p aly (= p a le ).
These two conventional devices are called forth by th e requirem ents
of th e m etre of th e poem, to add or rem ove a syllable, and are generally
avoided by m odern English poets.
Poetical words and set expressions m ake the u tteran ce understandable
jonly to a lim ited num ber of readers. It is m ainly due to poeticism s th at
^xpetical language is som etim es called poetical 1 argon.
In m odern English poetry there is a strong tendency to use words in
""strange com binations. It m anifests itself in th e coinage of new words
and, most of all, in com bining old and fam iliar words in a w ay th at
hinders understanding and forces th e reader to stop and try to decipher
the message so encoded.
The following m ay serve as examples:
yt_ The sound of shape; night-long eyes; to u tte r ponds of dream ;
wings of because; to reap ones sam e; goldenly whole, prodigiously
keen star whom sheand he , like ifs of am perceiv e... (E. E . Cum
mings).
All these com binations are considered ungram m atical inasm uch as
they v io late th e rules of encoding a message. B ut in search of new m odes
of expression m odern poets, partic u la rly those who m ay be called m oder
nists, have a strong bias for all kinds of innovation.* They experim ent
w ith language m eans and are ready to approve of any deviation from the
norm al. So also are lite ra ry critics belonging to w hat is called the avantgarde m ovem ent in a rt, the essence of which is the use of unorthodox and
experim ental m ethods. These usually lead both the poet and th e critic
to extrem es, exam ples of w hich are given above.

82

) A rch aic, O b solescent a n d O bsolete W ords

The word-stock of a language is in an increasing sta te of change.

W ords change th eir m eaning and som etim es drop out of the language
altogether. New words spring up and replace the old ones. Some words
stay in th e language a very long tim e and do not lose their faculty of
gam in g new m eanings and becoming richer and richer polysem antically.
O ther wrords live but a short tim e and are like'bubbles on the surface of
w ater they disappear leaving no trace of their existence.
In reg isterin g these processes the role of dictionaries can hardly
be over-estim ated. D ictionaries serve to re ta in this or th a t word in a lan
guage eith er as a relic of ancient tim es, wrhere it lived and circulated,
or as a still living u n it of the system , though it m ay have lost some of
its m eanings. They m ay also preserve certain nonce-creations which
were never intended for general use.
In every period in the developm ent of at literary language one can
find words which will show m ere or less apparent changes in their m ean
ing or usage, from full vigour, through a m oribund state, to death,
i. e. com plete disappearance of the unit from the language.
We shall distinguish three stages in the aging process of words:
T he beginning of the aging process when the word becomes rarely
used. Such words are called b s o I e s c e n t , i .e . they are in the stage
of g rad u ally passing out of general use. To this category first of all belong
m orphological forms belonging to the earlier stages in the developm ent
of the language. In the English language these are the pronouns thou
and its forms thee, thy and thine; the corresponding verbal ending -est
and th e verb-form s a rt, w ill ( thou makest, thou w ilt); the ending -(e)III
instead of (e )s (he m aketh) and the pronoun ye.
To th e category of obsolescent words belong m any French borrow
ings which have been kept in the literary language as a m eans of pre
serving the sp irit of earlier periods, e. g. a p a llet ( = a straw m attress);
a pa lfrey ( = a sm all horse); garniture ( = furniture); to ernplurne ( = to
adorn w ith feathers or plumes).
The second group of archaic words are those th a t have already gone
com pletely out of use but are still recognized by th e English-speaking
com m unity: e. g. m elhinks ( = it seems to me); nay ( = no). These words
are called o b s o l e t e .
The th ird group, which m ay be called a r c h a i c
p r o p e r , are
words which are no longer recognizable in modern English, words that
were in use in Old English and which have either dropped out of the
language en tirely or have changed in their appearance so much th at
/ they have become unrecognizable, e. g. troth ( = faith); a losel ( = a
w orthless, lazy fellow).
It will be noted th a t on the diagram (p. 71) the sm all circles denoting
archaic an d poetic W'ords overlap and both extend beyond the large
circle special literary vocabulary. This indicates th a t some of the words
in these layers do not belong to the present-day English vocabulary.
The borderlines between the groups are not distinct. In fact they
in terpenetrate, i t is specially difficult to distinguish between obsolete

83

and obsolescent words. B ut the difference is im portant when we come to

deal w ith the sty listic aspect of an utterance in which the given word
serves a certain sty listic purpose.-O bsolete and obsolescent words have
separate functions, as we shall point out later.
There is still another class of words which is erroneously classed as
archaic, viz. historical words. By-gone periods in the life of any society
are m arkedT) 1 istoril'al g \en ts, and by in stitu tio n s, custom s, m ater
ial objects, etc. which are no longer in use, for exam ple: Thane, yeoman,
goblet, baldric, mace. W ords of this type never disappear from the lan
guage. They are historical term s and rem ain as term s referring to definite
stages in the developm ent of society and cannot therefore be dispensed
w ith, though th e things and phenomena to which they refer have long
passed into oblivion. H istorical words have no synonym s, whereas archaic
words have been replaced by modern synonyms.Archaic words are p rim arily and predom inantly used in the creation
of a realistic background to historical novels It m ust be pointed out,
however, th at the use of historical words (terms) in a passage w ritten in
scientific style, say, in an essay on the history of the D anish invasion,
w ill bear no sty listic function at all. B ut the sam e term s when used in
historical novels assum e a different sty listic value. They carry, as it
were, a special volum e of inform ation adding to the logical aspect of
the com m unication.
This, the m ain function of archaisms,, finds different interp retatio n
in different hovels by different w riters. "SoitH w riters overdo things
in th is respect, the result being th at the reader finds all kinds of obstacles
in his wmy. O thers under-estim ate the necessity of introducing obsolete
or obsolescent elem ents into their narration and thus fail to convey
w hat is called local colour.
In his L etter to th e Young W riter A. N. Tolstoi states th a t the heroes
of historical novels m ust think and speak in the way the tim e they live
in, forces them to. If S tepan R azin, he m aintains, were to speak of the
in itia l accum ulation of cap ital, the reader would throw 'the book under
the tab le and he w'ould be right. B ut the w'riter m ust know all about the
in itia l accum ulation of capital and view' events from this particu lar
position.
On the w'hole T o lstois idea does not call for criticism . B ut the way
it is worded m ay lead to the m isconception th a t heroes of historical
novels should speak the language of the period they live in. If those
heroes re ally spoke the language of the tim e they lived in, the reader
w ould undoubtedly throw' the book under the table because he would
be unable to understand it.
As a m atter of fact the heroes of historical novels speak the language
of the period the w'riter and the
reader live in, and the skill
of the
is required to colour the language w ith such obsolete or obsolescent ele
m ents as most n a tu ra lly interw eave w ith the texture of the m odern
literary language. These elem ents m ust not be archaic in the narrow
sense. They m ust be recognizable to the n ativ e reader and not hinder his
understanding of the com m unication.
The difficulty in h andling archaic words and phrases and the su b tlety
84

required was acutely felt by A.S. P ushkin. In his artic le Ju ri Miloslavski, or th e Russian of 1612, P ushkin w rites:
W alter S cott carried along w ith him a crowd of im itators. But
how far they are from the Scottish charm er! Like A grippas pupil,
they sum m oned the demon of the P ast but they co u ld n o t handle him
and fell victim s of their own im prudence.
W alter S cott was indeed an inim itable m aster in the creation of an
historical atm osphere. H e used the sty listic means th a t create this a t
mosphere w ith such skill and discrim ination, th a t the reader is scarcely
aware th at the heroes of the novels speak his language and not th at of
their owm epoch. W alter S cott him self states the principles which he
considers basic for the purpose: the w rite rs language m ust not be out
of date and therefore incom prehensible, but words and phrases of modern
coinage should n o t be used.
It is one th in g to use the language to express feelings common
both to us and to our forefathers, says S cott, but it is another thing
to impose upon them the em otions and speech characteristics of their
descendants.
In accordance w ith these principles W alter Scott never photographs
the language of earlier periods; he sparingly introduces into the texture
of his language a few words and expressions more or less obsolescent in
character, and this is enough to convey the desired effect w'ithout unduly
in terlard in g present-day English w ith outdated elem ents of speech.
Therefore w'e can find such words as m ethinks, h a p ly, nay, travail, repast
and the like in-great num ber and, of course, a m u ltip lic ity of historical
term s. B ut you will hardly find a tru e archaism of the n atu re indicated
in our classification as archaism s proper.
Besides the function ju st m entioned, arch aic words_and phrases have
other functions found in other styles. -They are, first oT all, frequently to
be found in the style of official docum ents. In business letters, in legal
language, in all kinds of statu tes, in diplom atic docum ents and in all
kinds of legal docum ents one can find obsolescent words which would
long ago have become obsolete if it w'ere not for the preserving power of
the special use w ithin the above-m entioned spheres of com m unication.
It is the sam e w ith archaic and obsolete w'ords in poetry. As has already
been pointed o u t,T h e y are em ployed in the poetic style as special term s
and hence prevented from dropping completely out of the language.
Among th e obsolescent elem ents of the English vocabulary preserved
^ w ith in the style of official docum ents, the lollow ing m ay be m entioned:
aforesaid, hereby, therewith, hereinafternamed.
The function of archaic words and constructions^ in official docu
m ents is term inological in character.- They are used here because rtreyrhelp to m ain tain th a t exactness of expression so necessary in this style.
Archaic words and p a rtic u larly archaic forms of words are som etimes
used f o r jsatirical purposes./ This is achieved through w hat is called
A nticlim ax (see p. 221). Tfte situation in which the archaism is used is
not a p p ro p ria te 'to the context. There appears a sort of discrepancy bet

85

ween the words actu ally used and the ordinary situ atio n which excludes
the possibility of such a usage. The low pred ictab ility of an archaism
when it appears in ordinary speech produces the necessary satirical
effect.
H ere is an exam ple of such a use of an archaic form. In S haw s p lay
How He Lied to H er H usband a youth of eighteen, speaking of his
feelings towards a female of thirty-seven expresses himself in a lan
guage which is n o t in conform ity w ith the situation. H is words are:
P erfect love casteth off fear.
A rchaic words, word-forms and w ord-com binations are also used to
Vreate an elevated effecfl. Language is specially m oulded to suit a solemn
occasion: all kinds of sty listic devices are used, and am ong them is the
use of archaism s.
Some archaic words due to their inner qu alities (sound-texture, n u
ances o fm ean in g , m orphological peculiarities, com binatory power) may
be revived in a given period of the developm ent of the English language.
This-re-establishing in the vocabulary, however, is generally confined to
poetry and highly elevated discourse. The word albeit (although) 1 m ay
serve as an exam ple.
The sty listic significance of archaic words in historical novels and
in other works of fiction (em otive literatu re belles-lettres) is different.
In historical novels, as has been pointed out, they m aintain local colour,
i.e. they perform the function of creating the atm osphere of the past.
The reader is, as it w'ere, transplanted into another epoch and therefore
perceives the use of archaic words as a natu ral mode of com m unication.
Not so when archaic words are encountered in a depiction.of events
of present-dav life. H ere archaism s assum e the function of an SD proper.
They are perceived in a twofold function, the typical quality of an SD, viz.
d iachronically and synchronically. The abundance of archaic words
playing the role of poeticism s in the stanza of C hilde H arold quoted
on p. 81 sets the reader on guard as to the m eaning of the device. On
the one hand, th e word w hilom e triggers off the signal of som ething
th a t took place in tim es rem ote, an d therefore calls forth the necessity
of using archaic words to create local colour. On the other hand, the
crowding of such obsolete u n its of the vocabulary m ay be interpreted as
a parody on the dom ain of the few', whose adherents considered th at
real poetry should avoid using mean wrords. At any rate, the use of ar
chaic words here is a sty listic device which w illy-nilly requires decoding,
a process which in ev itab ly calls forth the double function of the units.
One m ust be well aw are of the subtleties in the usage of archaism s.
In Am erican English m any words and forms of words which are obsolete
or obsolescent in B ritish English have survived as adm issible in literary
usage.
A. C. Baugh, a historian of the English language,' points out th a t
in some p arts of Am erica one may hear theres a new barn a-building
dow'n the road. The form a-building is obsolete, the present form being
1 Compare the R ussian conjunction .

86

building (There is a house building = A house is being built). This form

has undergone the following changes: on building > a-building > building;
consequently, a-b u ild ing w ill sound obsolete in England but will be con
sidered dialectal in the U nited S tates. This predeterm ines the sty listic
m eaning when used in Am erican or B ritish texts.
The extension of such forms to the passive: A house is being b u ilt
took place near the very end of the 18th century.
S ty listic functions of archaic words are based on the tem poral per
ception of events described. Even when used in the term inological aspect,
as for instance in law, archaic words will m ark the utterance as being
connected w ith som ething rem ote and the reader gets the im pression th at
he is faced w ith a tim e-honoured trad itio n
d) Barbarisms and Foreignisms
In th e vocabulary of the English language there is a considerable
layer of words called b a r b a r i s m s . - Thee are words of foreign
origin which have not en tirely been sniuliiled into the English language. They bear the appearance of a borrow ing and are felt as some
thin g alien to th e n ativ e tongue. The role foreign borrowings played
in the developm ent of the English literary language is well known,
and th e great m ajority of these borrowed words now form p a rt of the
ra n k and file of the English vocabulary. I t is the science of linguistics,
in p articu lar its branch etym ology, th a t reveals the foreign n ature of
this or th a t word. B ut most of w hat were form erly foreign 'borrowings
are now, from a purely sty listic position, not regarded as foreign. B ut
still there are some w'ords which re ta in their foreign appearance to a
greater or lesser degree. These w'ords, which are called barbarism s, are,
like archaism s, also considered to be on the outskirts of the literary
language.
Most of them have corresponding English synonym s; e. g. chic
( = stylish); bon m o t ( = a clever w itty saying); en passant ( = in passing);
ad in fin itu m ( = to infinity) and m any other w'ords and phrases.
It is very im portant for purely sty listic purposes to distinguish
between barbarism s and foreign words proper. Barbarism s are w o rd s
w hich have already become fa c ts n f t h e Fnglish language. They are,
a s j i y'pi-p part and parrel of flie English word-stock. thflUgfTthev rem ain I)
on th e o u ts k ir ts nf t h e l i t e r a r y vocabulary, horeign words, though used '
for certain sty listic purposes, do n ot belong to the English vocabulary.
Thev~are not registered by EnglisfTdictiunaries, except in a kind ol ad-~
denda winch gives t he m eanings 01 the torem n wforhs m ost f r e n n e n t l v
used in litera ry English. B arbarism s are generally given in e body of
the dictionary. -*
TrTrpriJltgcTworks foreign words and phrases are generally italicized
to ia djcate th eir alien nature or their sty listic value. B arbarism s, o n t h e
co n tra ry ^ are n ot marie conspicuous in the tex t unless they bear a special
load of sty listic inform ation.
There are foreign words in the English vocabulary which fulfil a
term inological function. Therefore, though they still re ta in their
87

foreign appearance, they should not be regarded as barbarism s. Such

words as ukase, udarnik, soviet, kolkhoz and the like denote certain
concepts which reflect an objective re a lity not fam iliar to Englishspeaking com m unities. There are no nam es for them in English and so
they have to be explained. New concepts of this type are generally
given the nam es they have in the language of the people whose re a lity
they reflect.
F urther, such words as solo, tenor, concerto, blitzkrieg (the blitz),
lu ftw a ffe and th e like should also be distinguished from barbarism s.
They are different not only in their functions but in their n atu re as
well. They are term s. Term inological borrowings have no synonyms;
barbarism s, on the contrary, m ay have alm ost exact synonyms.
It is evident th a t barbarism s are a historical category. M any foreign
words dfid ^h ^/ftreZprn-ejnst forpign words used in~trterary
English to express a concept non-existent in hngTishTealitv. have liTtle
by little entered th e class of w ordsliam ednSarbaidsms and m any of these
barbarism s have gradually lost their forelgrTWcuriarlGes become more
or less naturalized and have m ergetLivith_lhe_na tiv e English stock of
word. Conscious, retrograde, spurious and strenuous are words in Ben
Jo n so n s play The P oetaster which were made fun of in the au th o rs
tim e as unnecessary borrowings from the French. W ith the passing of
tim e they have become common English literary words. They no longer
raise objections on the p art of English purists. The same can be said of
the words scientific methodical, penetrate, function, figurative, obscure,
and many others, which were once barbarism s, but which are now lawful
m embers of the common literary word-stock of the language.
B jjttuforeign words and barbarism s are widely used in various styles
oL language w ith various aim s, aim s which predeterm ine th eir typical
functions^.
------------------------------------------------One of these functions is to supply local colour. In order to depict
local conditions of life, concrete Tacts and events, customs and habits,
special care is taken to introduce into passage such language elem ents
as will reflect the environm ent. In this respect a most conspicuous role
is played by the language chosen. In V anity F air Thackeray takes the
reader to a sm all Germ an town where a boy w ith a rem arkable ap p etite
is made the focus of atten tio n . By introducing several G erm an words
into his n arrativ e, the author gives an indirect description of the peculia
rities of the Germ an menu and the environm ent in general.
The little boy, too, we observed, had a famous ap p etite, and
consumed schinken, and braten, and kartoffeln, and cranberry jam ...
w ith a g allan try th a t did honour to his n atio n .
The Germ an words are italicized to show their alien n atu re and at
the same tim e th eir sty listic function in the passage. These words have
not become facts of the English language and need special decoding
to be understood by the ran k and file English-speaking reader.
In this connection m ention m ight be made of a sty listic device often
used by w riters whose knowledge of the language and custom s of the count
ry they depict bursts out from the texture of the n arrative. They use
88

foreign words and phrases and som etim es whole sentences q u ite reg ard
less of the fact th a t these m ay not be understood by the reader. However,
one suspects th a t the words are not intended to be understood exactly.
All th a t is required of the reader is th at he should be aw are th a t the words
used are foreign and mean som ething, in the above case connected w ith
food. In th e above passage the association of food is m aintained through
out by the use of the words a p p e tite , consum ed, and the English
cranberry ja m . The context therefore leads the reader to understand
th a t schinken, braten and kartoffeln are words denoting some kind of
food, but ex actly w hat kind he will learn when he travels in Germ any.
The function of the foreign words used in the context m ay be con
sidered to provide local colour as a background to the n arrativ e. In passa
ges of other kinds u n its of speech m ay be used which will arouse only
a vague conception in the m ind of the reader. The s ig n ific a n c e ^ such
u n its, however, is not com m unicative the au th o r does not wish them
to convey any clear-cut idea but to serve in m aking the m ain idea
sta n d out more conspicuously.
T his device m ay be likened to one used in p ain tin g by representa
tives of the D utch school who made their background alm ost in d istin
guishable in order th a t the foreground elem ents m ight stand out dis
tin c tly and colourfully.
An exam ple which is even more characteristic of the use of the local
colour function of foreign words is the follow ing stanza from B orons
Don J u a n :
...m ore th an p o ets pen
Can p o in t, Cosi viaggino: Ricchi!"
(Excuse a foreign slip-slop now and then.
If but to show Ive tra v e lld: and w h a ts travel
Unless it teaches one to quote and cavil?)
The poet him self calls the foreign words he has used slip-slop,
i. e. tw addle, som ething nonsensical.
A nother function of barbarism s and foreign words is to b u ild up the
s t\ (Xstie"de\'ice of non-personal direct speech or jepreseriTed speech
(see p. 236). The useT5Fa"word, or a phrSSer^r-a'Sentence in the reported
speech of a local in h ab itan t helps to reproduce his actu al words, m anner
of speech and the environm ent as well. Thus in Jam es A ldridges The
Sea Eagle And th e C retans were very w illing to feed and hide the
fn g lis F , th e last word is intended to reproduce the actual speech of
the local people by introducing a word actu a lly spoken by them , a word
w hich is very easily understood because of the root.
G enerally such words are first introduced in the direct speech of
a ch aracter and then appear in the a u th o rs n arrativ e as an elem ent of
reported speech. Thus in the novel The Sea Eagle the word benzina
(= m o to r boat) is first m entioned in the direct speech of a C retan:
It was a w arship th a t sent out its benzina to catch us and look
for guns.
E ater th e au th o r uses the same word but a r l e a d y in reported speech:
89

He heard too the noise of a benzina engine starting.

Barbarism s and foreign words are used in various styles of language,
but are most often to be found in .the style of belles-lettres and the publicistic style. In the belles-lettres style, however, toreignism s are som etim es
usetT noi oftly as separate un its incorporated in the E nglish n arrativ e.
The author makes his character ac tu a lly speak a foreign language, by
p u ttin g a strin g of foreign words into his m outh, words which to m any
readers may be qu ite unfam iliar. These phrases or whole sentences are
som etimes tran slated by the w riter in 'a foot-note or by explaining the
foreign utterance in English in the text. B ut this is seldom done.
H ere is an exam ple of the use of French by Jo h n G alsw orthy:
R evelation was alig h tin g like a bird in his heart, singing:
E lle est ton reve! E lle est ton revet" (In C hancery)
No tran slatio n is given, no in terp retatio n. B ut som ething else m ust
be pointed out~here. Foreign words and phrases m ay som etim es be used
to ex alt the e x p r e s s i o n n f the idea, to elevate the language. This is in
some respect akin to the function of elevation m entioned in the chapter
on archaism s. W ords w-hich we do not quite understand som etim es have
a peculiar charm . This magic q u ality in words, a q u ality not easily gras
ped, has long been observed and made use of in various kinds of u tte ra n
ces, p articu larly in poetry and folklore.
B ut the introduction of foreign speech into the texture of the Eng
lish language hinders understanding and if constantly used becomes
irritatin g . It m ay be likened, in some respect, to jargon. Soames For
syte, for exam ple, calls it exactly th at.
E patantV he heard one say.
Jargon! growled Soames to him self.
The introduction of actual foreign words in an utterance is not, to
our m ind, a special sty listic device, inasm uch as it is not a conscious
and intentional literary use of the facts of the English language. How
ever, foreign words, being alien to the tex tu re of the language in which
the work is w ritten , always arrest the atten tio n of the reader and there
fore have a definite sty listic function. Som etim es the skilful use of one
or two foreign words will be sufficient to create the im pression of an
utterance m ade in a foreign language. Thus in the following exam ple:
Deutsche Soldaten a little while ago, you received a sam ple of
Am erican stren g th . (Stefan H eym , The Crusaders)
The tw^o w w ds D eutsche S oldaten are sufficient to create the im
pression th a t the actual speech was m ade in G erm an, as in real life it
would have been.
The same effect is som etim es achieved by the slight distortion of
an English word, or a distortion of English gram m ar in such a wray
th a t the m orphological aspect of the distortion will bear a resem blance
to th e m orphology of the foreign tongue, for exam ple:

90

H e look a t Miss Forsyte so fu n n y som etim es. I tell him all my sto
ry; he so sym patisch (Galsworthy)
B arbarism s have still another function when used in the belleslettres stvle. We m ay call it an exacfTTyTng" fu n ctio n . W ords "of foreign origin generally have a m ore or less m onosem antic value. In other
words, they do not tend to develop new m eanings. The English
So long, for exam ple, due to its conventional usage has lost its prim ary
m eaning. It has become a formal phrase of parting. Not so w ith the
French A u revoir." W hen used in English as a formal sign of p arting
it will eith er carry the exact m eaning of the words it is composed of,
viz. See you again soon, or have another sty listic function. H ere is an
exam ple:
She had said A u revoir!' N ot good-bye! (Galsworthy)
The formal and conventional salu tatio n a t p arting has become a
m eaningful sentence set against another formal salu tatio n a t p artin g
which, in its tu rn , is revived by the process to its form er significance of
God be w ith you, i. e. a salu tatio n used when p arting for some tim e.
In p u b licistic sty le the use of barbarism s and foreign words is m ainly
confined to colouring the passage on the problem in question w ith a
touch of au th o rity . A person who uses so m any foreign words and phrases
is obviously a very educated person, the reader thinks, and therefore
a m an who knows. H ere are some exam ples of the use of barbarism s in
the pu b licistic style:
Y et en passant I w ould like to ask here (and answer) w hat did
Kockefeller th in k of L ab o u r... (Dreiser, Essays and A rticles)
C iv ilizatio n as they knew it still depended upon m aking
profits ad in fin itu m . (Ibid.)
We m ay rem ark in passing th a t D reiser was p articu larly fond of
using barbarism s not only in his essays and articles bu t in his novels
and stories as w ell. And this brings us to another question. Is the use
of barbarism s and foreign words a m a tte r of individual preference of
expression, a certain idiosyncrasy of this or th a t w riter? O r is there
a definite norm regulating the usage of this m eans of expression in dif
ferent styles of speech? The reader is invited to m ake his own observa
tions and inferences on the m atter.
B arbarism s assum e the significance of a sty listic device if they display
a kind of interactio n between different m eanings, or functions, or aspects.
W hen a word which we consider a barbarism is used so as to evoke
a twofold ap p licatio n we are confronted w ith an SD.
In th e exam ple given above She had said au revoirV N ot good
bye! the au re v o ir will be understood by the reader because of its
frequent use in some circles of English society. However, it is to
be understood literally here, i. e. So long or until we see each other
ag a in . The twofold perception secures the desired effect. Set against
the English Good-bye which is generally used w'hen people p a rt for an
91

indefinite tim e, the barbarism loses its form al character and re-establi
shes its etym ological m eaning. C onsequently, here again we see the
clearly cut twofold application of the language u n it, the indispensable
requirem ent for a sty listic device.
e) Literary Coinages (Including Nonce-Words)
There is a term in linguistics W'hich by its very n atu re is am biguous
and th a t is the term n e o l o g i s m . In dictionaries it is generally
defined as a new word o rlrn u w irieanfngior an established w ord. E very
th in g in th is definition is vague. How long should words or their m ean
ings be regarded as new? W hich words of those th at appear as new in
the language, say, during the life-tim e of one generation, can be regarded
as established? It is suggestive th at the latest editions of certain diction
aries avoid the use of the sty listic notation neologism ap p aren tly
because of its am biguous character. If a word is fixed in a dictionary and
provided th a t the dictionary is reliable, it ceases to be a neologism.
If a new m eaning is recognized as an elem ent in the sem antic stru ctu re
of a lexical u n it, it ceases to be new. However, if we wish to divide the
word-stock of a language into chronological periods, we can convention
ally m ark off a period which m ight be called new7.
* E y e q u p e rie d in the developm ent of a language produces an enor
m ous n um ber of new words or new m eanings of established words. Most
of them do not live long. They are not m eant to li\e long. They are, as
it were, coined for use a t the m om ent of speech, and therefore possess
a peculiar property th a t of tem porariness. The given wrord or m eaning
holds only in the given context and is m eant only to serve the occasion. '}
However, such is the power of the WTitten language th at a W'ord or
a m eaning used only to serve the occasion, W'hen once fixed in w riting,
m ay become part and parcel of the general vocabulary irrespective of
the q u ality of the word. T h a ts why the introduction of new words by
m en-of-letters is pregnant w'ith unforeseen consequences: their new coin
ages m ay replace old words and become established in the language as
synonym s and later as sub stitu tes for the old words.
In this connection it m ight be noted th a t such words as ,
and th eir derivatives as well as , , and
others introduced into the literary R ussian language by V. G. Belinsky
have become leg itim ate R ussian w'ords firm ly established in the wordstock of the Russian language and are no longer felt to be alien to the
literary language as they were in the nineteenth century.
The coining of new words generally arises first of all w ith the need
to designate new7 concepts resulting from the developm ent of science and
also w ith the need to express nuances of m eaning called forth by a deeper
understanding of the n atu re of the phenom enon in question. It m ay
also be the result of a search for a m ore econom ical, brief and com pact
form of utteran ce which proves to be a m ore expressive m eans of com m u
nicatin g the idea.
The first type of newly coined words, i. e. those which designate qpw-
\ npp <nnrppts, m ay be n a m e d t e r m i n o l o g i c a l c o i n a g e s. The

92

second type, i. e. words coined because their creators seek expressive u tte
rance m ay be nam ed s t y l i s t i c c o i n a g e s .
New w ords are m ainly coined according to the productive m odels
for w ord-building in th e given language. B ut the new words of the literarybookish ty p e we are dealing w ith in this chapter m ay som etim es be b u ilt
w ith the help of affixes and by other m eans which have gone ou t of use
or which are in the process of dying out. In th is case the sty listic effect
produced by the m eans of w ord-building chosen becomes m ore apparent,
and the sty listic function ot ThiTdevTce can be felt m ore acutely.
It often happens, however, th a t the sensitive reader finds a new
app licatio n of an already existing word alm ost revolting. P u rists of
all shades rise up in protest against w hat they call the highly objection
able and illeg itim ate usage of the word. B ut being once successfully
used, it m ay be repeated by o th er w riters and so m ay rem ain in the
language and, m oreover, m ay influence the further history of the
sem antic developm ent of the word. V. V. V inogradov ju stly rem arks:
...T h e tu rn in g point in the sem antic history of m any words
is the new, v iv id ly expressive, figurative, individual use of them .
T his new and genuinely a rtistic app licatio n of a w ord, if it is in
conform ity w ith the general tendencies of the sem antic developm ent
of the language not infrequently predeterm ines the further sem antic
developm ent of th e w ord. 1
Am ong new coinages of a literary-bookish type m ust be m entioned
a considerable layer of words appearing in the p ublicistic style, m ainly
in new spaper articles and m agazines and also in the new spaper style
m ostly in new spaper headlines. To these belongs the w ord B lim p
a nam e coined by Low, the well-known English cartoonist. The nam e was
coined to designate an English colonel Famous for his conceit, b ru ta lity ,
ultra-conservatism . T his word gave b irth to a derivative, viz. Blim pish.
O ther exam ples are backlash (in backlash policy) and its opposite
fro n tlash .
L iterary critics, m en-of-letters and linguists have m anifested dif
ferent a ttitu d e s tow ards new coinages both literary and colloquial.
Ever since the 16th century, lite ratu re has shown exam ple after exam ple
of the losing b a ttle of the purists whose strongest objection to the new
words was on the score of their obscurity. A. A. Baugh points out th at
the great exponent of th is view was Thom as W ilson. H is A rte of R hetorique (1533) was several tim es reprinted and was used by Shakespeare.
Of course, there are different degrees of purism . In other words, the
efforts of scholars to preserve the p u rity of their language should not
alw ays be regarded as conservative. They do not look upon any and
every change w ith suspicion or regard an innovation as invariably a cor
rup tio n of the language.
Most of the new words of the 16th century as well as those of the 17th
were foreign borrowings from L atin , Greek and continental French.
The words were introduced into the English language and used in the

1 . . . ., . 78 ().

93

sam e sense and w ith alm ost the sam e pronunciation as in the language
they were borrowed from. B ut m ost of those w hich have rem ained in
the language underw ent changes due to the process of assim ilation and
were fin ally n atu ralized . This process is slow. It som etim es takes centu
ries to m ake a word borrowed from another language sound quite E ng
lish. The tem po of assim ilation is different w ith different borrowings,
depending in p a rtic u la r on the language the word is borrowed from.
Borrowings from the French language are easily and quickly assim ilated
due to long-established trad itio n . The process of assim ilation plays a
rath er im p o rtan t role in the sty listic evaluation of a lexical u nit. The
greater and the deeper the process of assim ilation, the m ore general and
common the word becomes, the less bookish it sounds, and the greater
the p ro b ab ility of its becoming a m em ber of the neutral layer of
words.
Throughout the history of the English lite rary language, scholars
have expressed th eir opposition to three m ain lines of innovation in
th e vocabulary: firstly , to borrowings which they considered objection
able because of their irregularity; secondly, to the revival of archaic
words; and th ird ly , because the process of creation of new words was
too rap id for the literary language to assim ilate. The opposition to one
or other of these lines of innovation increased in violence a t different
stages in th e developm ent of the language, and sw itched from one to
another in accordance w ith the general laws of developm ent in the given
period.
We shall refer the reader to books on the history of the English
language for a m ore detailed analysis of the a ttitu d e of purists of dif
ferent shades to innovations. Our task here is to trace the literary ,
bookish character of coinages and to show which of their features have
co n tributed to th eir sty listic labels. Some words have indeed passed from
the literary-bookish layer of the vocabulary where they first appeared,
into the stratu m of common literary words and then into the neutral
stratu m . O thers have rem ained w ith in the literary-bookish group of
words and have never shown any tendency to move downwards in the
scale.
T his fact is ap p arently due to the linguistic background of the new
words and also to the dem and for a new u n it to express nuances of
m eaning.
In our tim es the sam e tendency to coin new words is to be observed
in E ngland and p articu larly in the U nited States of America. The literary
language is lite rally inundated w ith all kinds of new^ words and a consid
erable body of protest has arisen against them . It is enough to look
through some of the articles of the N ew York Times on the subject to see
w hat direction the protest against innovations takes.
Like earlier periods in the developm ent of the English language, m od
ern tim es are characterized by a vigorous protest against the unrestrained
influx of new coinages, w hether they have been b u ilt in accordance w ith
the norms of the language or w hether they are of foreign origin.
An article in the Ottawa Evening Journal (Feb. 1957), entitled
Massey Deplores Use of B ad E nglish, states:
94

The danger is not th a t the reading public w ould desert good books,
but th at abuse of the w ritten l a n g u a g e may ruin books.
As for words, we are never at a loss; if they do not exist, we invent
them . We carry o u t purposeful projects in a m eaningful m anner
in order to achieve insightful experiences.
We diarize, we earlirize; any day we m ay begin to futurize. We
also itinerize, reliablize; and we not only decontam inate and dehum idify b u t we debureaucratize and we deinsectize. We are, in a d
d ition, discovering how good and pleasant it is to fellowship w ith
one another.
I can only say, let us finalize all this nonsense
The w riter of the article then proceeds to give an explanation of the
reasons for such unrestrained coinage. He states th at some of the w riters
...are not asham ed of WTiting badly but rather proud of w ritin g
at all andw ith a certain v an ity are attra cted by gorgeous words
which give to th eir slender thoughts an appearance of power.
P erhaps the w'riter of this article is not far from the tru th when he
ascribes literary coinage to the desire to m ake u tterances m ore pompous
and sensational. It is suggestive th a t the m ajo rity of such coinages are
found in new spaper and m agazine articles and, like the articles them
selves, live but a short time. As their effect is tran sito ry , it m ust be instan
taneous. If a newly-coined word can serve the dem and of the m om ent,
w hat does it m atter to the w'riter w hether it is a necessary word or not?
The freshness of the creation is its prim ary and indispensable quality.
The fate of literary coinages, unlike colloquial ones, m ainly de
pends on the num ber of rival synonym s already existing in the vocab
ulary of the language. It also depends on the shade of m eaning the new
coinage m ay convey to the m ind of the reader. If a new' word is approved
of by n ativ e speakers and becomes widely used, it ceases to be a new word
and becomes p art and parcel of the general vocabulary in spite of the
objections of m en-of-letters and other lawgivers of the language, whoever
they m ay be.
M any coinages disappear en tirely from the language, leaving no m ark
of th eir even brief existence. O ther literary neologisms leave traces in
the vocabulary because they are fixed in the lite ratu re of th eir tim e.
In o ther words, new literary-bookish coinages will alw ays leave traces
in the language, inasm uch as they appear in W'riting. This is not the case
W'ith colloquial coinages. These, as we shall see later, are spontaneous,
and due to th eir linguistic nature, cannot be fixed unless special care is
taken by specialists to preserve them .
Most of the literary-bookish coinages are built by m eans of affix
ation and w'ord com pounding. This is but n atural; new w'ords b u ilt in this
m anner will be im m ediately perceived because of their unexpectedness.
Unexpectedness in the use of w'ords is the natu ral device of those w riters
who seek to achieve th e sensational. I t is interesting to note in passing
th at conversion, which has become one of the m ost productive w ord-build
95

ing devices of the English language and which is more and more widely
used to form new words in all p arts of speech, is less effective in producing
th e sensational effect sought by literary coinage than is the case w ith
oth er m eans of w ord-building. Conversion has become organic in the
English language.
Sem antic w ord-building, th at is, giving an old word a new m eaning,
is rarely em ployed by w riters who coin new words for jo u rn alistic pur
poses. It is too slow and im perceptible in its growth to produce any kind
of sensational effect.
C onversion, deriv atio n and change of m eaning m ay be registered as
meahsTfy which literary-bookish"coinages are formed". These three means
of w ord-building are m ostly used to coin new term s in which new m ean
ings are imposed on old words. Among coinages of this kind the word
Accessories' m ay be m entioned. It has now become an im portant word in
the vocabulary of fem inine fashion. It m eans gloves, shoes and handbag,
though jew ellery and other ornam ents are som etim es included. M ary
R eifers D ictionary of New W ords notes a verb to accessorize m eaning
to provide w ith dress accessories, such as handbag, gloves, shoes, e tc ..
These item s are supposed to form a m atching or harm onious whole.
The new m eaning co-exists w ith the old ones. In other words, new
m eanings imposed on old words form one system in which old and new
m eanings are ranged in a dictionary according to their rate of frequency
or to some o th er underlying principle. B ut there are cases when new m ean
ings imposed on old words drive ou t old m eanings. In this case we reg
ister a gradual change in the m eaning of the word which m ay not incor
porate the old one. In m ost cases, however, the old m eaning is hardly
felt; it is generally forgotten and can only be re-established by et>moo tio 1\/cic

L atin , first m eant to feel or

_________
,
oday lost its prim ary m eaning
exp______ r ___
and now has acquired a new one w hich, however, still contains a shade
of the old, viz. to regard w ith wonder and approval, esteem or affection,
to delight in .
The process of elim ination of the old m eaning, as is seen from this
exam ple, is slow and sm ooth. H ardly ever can we register a sudden
sw itch from one m eaning to another: there is alw ays a gradual transition,
an d not infrequently the two com peting m eanings co-exist, m anifesting
in this co-existence an alm ost im perceptible internal struggle which
ends in the com plete elim ination of one of them .
Alm ost half of the words in the 18th century English D ictionary
com piled by Sam uel Johnson m ay serve as exam ples of change of meaning. A word or two taken a t random w ill confirm the statem ent just
made.
The word to fascinate m eant to bew itch; to en ch an t; to influence in some wicked and secret m anner. The word available is explained
in Jo h n so n s D ictionary as I. P rofitable; A dvantageous. 2. Powerful,
in force.
True, in some respects Johnsons D ictionary cannot be regarded as
a reliable source of inform ation: his a ttitu d e towards colloquial idiom
96

I
,

is well known. It was not only aversion it was a m anifestation of his

theoretical view point. Jam es Boswell in his Life of Johnson says th at
the com piler of the dictionary was at all tim es jealous of infractions upon
the genuine English language, and prom pt to repress w hat he called
colloquial barbarism s; such as pledging myself for u n d ertaking, line
for d ep artm en t or branch, as the civil line, the banking line. He was
p articu larly indignant against the alm ost universal use of the word idea
in the sense of n o tio n or opin io n , when it is clear th a t idea, being
derived from the Greek word m eaning to see, can only signify som ething
of which an image can be formed in the m ind. We m ay have, he says,
an idea or image of a m ountain, a tree, a building; bu t we cannot surely
have an idea or image of an argum ent or proposition.
As has been pointed out, w ord-building by m eans of affixation is
still predom inant in coining new words. Exam ples are: orbiter a
spacecraft designed to orbit a celestial body; longer a spacecraft
designed to land on such a body; missileer a person skilled in m issilery
or in the launching and control of m issiles'; fruitologist and wreckologist
which were used in a letter to the editor of The Times from a person
livin g in A u stralia. A nother m onster of the ink-horn type is the word
overdichotomize to sp lit som ething into too m any p a rts, which is
com m ented upon in an article in New York Tim es M agazine-.
It is, alas, too m uch to expect th at this fine flower of language, a
v eritab le hot-house specim encom bining as it does a vogue word
w ith a vogue suffixwill long survive. 1
The literary-bookish character of such coinages is quite apparent
an d needs no com m ent. They are alw ays felt to be over-literary because
eith er the stem or the affix (or both) is not used in the way the reader
expects it to be used. Perhaps it would be m ore appropriate to say th at
by forcibly p u ttin g to g ether a fam iliar stem and a fam iliar affix and
thus producing an unfam iliar w w d, the w riter compels the reader to
concentrate his atten tio n on the new' w'ord, firstly by its novelty and sec
ondly by the necessity of analysing it in order to decipher the message.
By using a neologism instead of the word or com bination of words ex
pected, he violates the m ain property of a com m unication, which is
to convey the idea straightforw ardly and prom ptly.
Among new' creations those w ith the suffix-ize seem to be the most
frequent. The suffix -ize gives a strong shade of bookishness to new
words. Here are some more exam ples of neologisms w ith th is suffix:
detribalized (Africans); accessoriez; m oisturize; villagize.
Thom as P yles WTites:
The -ize suffix... is very voguish in advertizing copy, a m ost potent
dissem inator of m odish expressions; ...its fashionableness m ay explain
why hospitalize, current since the tu rn of the century, has recently
begun to flourish. 2.
1 New York Times Magazine, J u ly 15, 1958.
2 See Sublim inal W ords are Never Finalized, New York Times Magazine, J u ly 15,

2376

97

Some affixes are them selves .literary in character and n atu ra lly carry
th is p ro p ert\ To~fTerivatives formed "vvTlh them . Thus, for exam ple, the
prefix anti- has given us a num ber of new words which are gradually be
com ing recognizable as facts of the English vocabulary, e. g.
an /j-n o v elist, o/z/i-hero, a/ztf-world, on/j-em otion, 'antitrend' and the like.
The prefix anti-, as is seen from these exam ples, has developed a new
m eaning. It is rath er difficult to specify. In the m ost general term s it
may be defined as the reverse of. In th is connection it w ill be inter
esting to quote the words of an English jo u rn alist and essayist.
The sp irit of opposition is as necessary as the presence of rules
and disciplines, but unlim ited kicking over traces can become a
tedious exercise. So can this popular business of being a n ti in general.
In the world of letters the critical lingo of our tim e speaks of the antinovel or an ti-p la y which has an anti-hero. Since there is a fashion
for characters unable to com m unicate, people w ith nothing to say and
no vocabulary w ith which to explain their vacuity, an ti-w ritin g m ay
fairly be described as possessing anti-dialogue.
The suffix -darn has also developed a new m eaning, as in gangdom',
freckledcra, ' musicdom' where the suffix is used w ith the most general
m eaningof collectivity. The suffix- has been given new life. We have in
te rro g a te , a u to b io g ra p h y (...th e pseudo-autobiographer has swallowed
the autobiographee whole. New Statesman, Nov. 29, 1963); e n r o lls
(Each enrollce is given a booklet filled w ith advice and suggestions, and
atten d s the lectu re... New York Times M agazine, J a n . 26, 1964); o m itte d ,
askee' (T h a ts a bad h ab it, asking a question and not w aiting for an
answer, but i t s not alw ays bad for the askee." Rex S tout, Too m any
clients)
The suffix -ship has also developed a new shade of m eaning which
is now gaining literary recognition, as in the coinages:
showmans/zip, brinkm anship, lifem anship, Upmanship,
m istressm anship. superm anship, one-upm anship, etc.
In these coinages an interesting phenom enon seems to be taking
place. The word man is gradually growing first into a half-suffix and
finally into p art of the complex suffix -manship w ith the approxim ate
m eaning the ab ility to do som ething better than another person.
Among voguish suffixes which colour new coinages w ith a shade of
bookishness is the suffix -ese, the dictionary definition of which is
1) belonging to a city or country as in h ab itan t (inhabitants) or lanuage, e. g. Genoese, Chinese; 2) pertaining to a particu lar w riter (of
-,tyle or diction), e. g. Johnsonese, journalese.
M odern exam ples are:
Daily-Telegraphese, New' Yorkese; recently a new word has appeared
-ese. It is the novelty of these creations th a t a ttra c ts our atten tio n

98

and it is the unexpectedness of the com bination th a t m akes us feel th at

the new coinage is of a bookish character.
The resistance of purists to the unrestrained flow of new coinages
of a bookish character, which greatly outnum bers the n atu ral collo
quial creations, can be illu strated in the following words of R obert
E. Morseberger:
Anyone fam iliar w ith the current crop of horror m ovies knows th at
w eird m u tatio n s caused by atom ic rad iatio n have spawned a brood of
m alig n an t m onsters, from g ian t insects (half hum an and otherwise)
to blobs of glup. W hile these fortunately are confined to science fic
tion, our language itself dem onstrates sim ilar grotesque m u tatio n s
in tru ncated, telescoped words and words w ith extra inflationary
grow ths on the suffix end, not counting the jargon of special groups
from beatniks to sociologists.
Am ong the more frequent and absurd of these linguistic m onsters
are condensed words ending in -rama and -thon. The former comes from
panorama from the Greek pan ( = a ll) plus horama ( = a view) or cyclorama from the Greek kyklos ( = a circle) plus horama again. So
far so good; the next developm ent is cinerama, still sound, from the
Greek kinem a ( = m otion) and our old friend horama.
Now the advertisers have taken the suffix-root and proceed to
to rtu re it out of sense and recognition, w ith horama (or rath er a vowel
followed by -rama) no longer m eaning sim ply a view bu t an entire
spectacle or sim ply a superlative, so th a t the suffix has devoured all
the original panorama in such distortions as cleanorama ( = a spectacu
lar cleaning spree); tomatorama, beanarama, bananarama ( = a sensa
tional sale of tomatoes., beans or bananas)...
Keeping pace w ith -rama (pacerama) is -thon, a suffix newly
m inted from ancient m etal. P heidippides race from the battlefield
of M arathon and the later foot race of th a t nam e gave the noun M ara
thon the m eaning of an endurance contest; but we now have to endure
-thon alone, divorced, and m ade into a selfsustaining suffix in (sob\)
such words as telethon, walkathon, talkathon, danceathon, cleanathon, ...
C learly -thon and -rama com pete in the riv alry between cleanathon
and cleanorama; both bastard suffixes have swallowed their original
noun, and it is only logical th a t they should next swallow each other in
thonorama' ( = an endurance of various -ramas) or ramathon ( = a
panoram ic or sensational endurance contest). 1
The reader w ill undoubtedly not fail to observe th a t protest against
these ink-horn term s is not based on any sound linguistic foundation.
It m erely shows the a ttitu d e of the w riter tow ards certain novelties in
language. They seem to him m onstrous. B ut there is no indication as to
w hat m akes them m onstrous. The w riter him self readily uses new words

1 The New Y ork Tim es Book Review, Nov. 17, 1963.

4*

99

such as g lu p , beatniks w ithout quotation m arks, which shows, evidently,

th a t he is reconciled to them . Strugglesome, informatative, connotate,
unworthwhite, inferiorism, deride, to be accusated are other words w hich he
ap p aren tly considers distortions. The last string of literary coinages is
supplied w ith the following footnote: All words used in this sentence are
grafetully acknowledged as coming from college freshm an them es.
U nfortunately there are no objective criteria for ascertaining the
sty listic aspect of words. Therefore the protest of m any language purists
is som etim es based on subjective idiosyncrasy. We find objections to the
w ays and m eans of coining new words, as in the quotation above, and
also to the unrestrained injection into some words of em otive m eaning
when th is m eaning, it is said, has not yet been w idely recognized, as top
( = excellent, wonderful), fey ( = som ewhat w him sical, in touch w ith the
sup ern atu ral, a little cracked).1 This second objection applies particu larly
to the colloquial stratu m of words. We also find objections to the new
logical m eanings forced upon words, as is done by a certain J . Bell in
an article on ad v ertizing agencies.
H ighly lite rate m en are busy selling cancer and alcoholism to the
public, com m ending inferior goods, garbling facts, confusing figures,
exploiting em otions...
Here the word sell is used in the sense of establishing confidence in
som ething, of speaking convincingly, of persuading the public to do,
or buy and use som ething (in this case cigarettes, wine and spirits);
the word commend has developed the m eaning of recom m end and the
word inferior has come to m ean lower in price, cheap; to garble, the
prim ary m eaning of which is to sort by siftin g , now also means to
d isto rt in order to m islead; to confuse is generally used in the sense of
to m ix up in m in d , to exploit em otions m eans m aking use of peoples
em otions for the sake of g ain.
All these words have acquired new m eanings because they are used
in com binations not yet registered in the language-as-a-system . It is
a well-knowrn fact th at any w'ord, if placed in a strange environm ent,
will in evitably acquire a new shade of m eaning. Not to see this, m eans
no t to correctly ev aluate the inner laws of the sem antic developm ent of
lexical units.
There is still another m eans of w ord-building in m odern English
w hich m ay be considered voguish a t the present tim e, and th a t is the
blending of two words into one by cu rtailin g the end of the first com
ponent or the beginning of the second. Exam ples are num erous: musicomedy (m usic+com edy); cinemactress (cinem a+ actress); avigation (avia
tion-.-navigation); and the already recognized blends like smog (smokedfog): chortle (chuckled-snort); galum ph (g a llo p + triu m p h ) (both occur
in H um pty D u m p ty s poem in Lew'is C arrolls Through the Looking
Glass). A rockoon (rocket4-balloon) is a rocket designed to be launched
from a balloon. Such w ords are called b l e n d s .

1 A te Statesman, 22 .. 1903.

100

In review ing the w ays and m eans of coining new words, we m ust not
overlook one which plays a conspicuous role in changing the m eaning
of words and m ostly concerns stylistics. We m ean injecting into wellknown, com m only-used words w ith clear-cut concrete m eanings, a m ean
ing th a t the w orld did not have before. This is generally due to the
com binative power of the word. This aspect of W'ords has long been under
estim ated by linguists. P airin g words w'hich h ith erto have not been
paired, m akes the com ponents of the w ord-com binations acquire a new',
and som etim es qu ite unexpected, m eaning. P articu larly productive is
the adjective. It tends to acquire an em otive m eaning alongside its
logical m eaning, as, for instance, terrible, aw ful, dramatic, top.
The result is th a t an adjective of this kind becomes an intensifier:
it m erely indicates the degree of the positive or negative q u ality of the
concept em bodied in the word th a t follows. When it becomes generally
accepted, it becomes p art of the sem antic structure of the w'ord, and in
th is wray the sem antic w ealth of the vocabulary increases. True, th is
process is m ostly found in the dom ain of conversation. In conversation
an unexpectedly free useof words is constantly m ade. It is in conversation
th a t such w'ords as stunning, grand, colossal, wonderful, exciting and the
like have acquired th is intensifying derivative m eaning w'hich We call
em otive. 1 B ut the literary-bookish language in quest of new m eans of
im pressing the reader, also resorts to th is m eans of word coinage. It is
m ostly the product of newspaper language w'here the necessity, nay, the
urge, to discover new m eans of im pressing the reader is greatest.
In th is connection it is interesting to quote articles from English
and A m erican periodicals in w'hich problem s of language in its functional
aspect are occasionally discussed. In one of them , C urrent Cliches and
Solecism s by E dm und W ilson,2 the im proper application of the prim ary
and accepted m eanings of the words massive, crucial, transpire and others
is condemned. The author of the article is unw illing to acknowledge
the objective developm ent of the w ord-stock and instead of fixing the
new' m eanings th a t are gaining ground in the sem antic stru ctu re of these
words, he tries to block them from literary usage w'hile neglecting the
fact th a t these new m eanings have already been established in the lan
guage. T his is w'hat he says:
Massive! I have also wTitten before of this stu p id and oppressive
word, which seems to have become since then even m ore common as a
ready cliche th a t acts as a blackout on thinking. One now' m eets it in
every departm ent: literary , po litical, scientific. In a period of moral
im potence, so m any things are thought as in tim id atin g th a t they are
euphem istically referred to as massive. I shall not present further
exam ples except to register a feeling of horror a t finding this
adjective resorted to three tim es, and twice in the sam e paragraph, by
Lionell T rillin g in Commentary, in the course of an otherw ise ad m ira
ble discussion of the LeavisSnow controversy: massive significance
1 See Meaning from a S tylistic P o in t of View , (p. 57).
2 ' Statesman and Nation, Feb. 8. 19G3.

101

of The Two C ultures, massive intention of The Two C ultures,

q u ite massive blunder of Snow in regard to the V ictorian w riters.
W as Snow s essay really th at huge and w eighty? If it was, perhaps it
m ight follow th a t any blunder in it m ust also be m assive.
A nother of these em otional intensifiers is the word crucial. It
also raises objections on the part of purists and am ong them the one
| whose article we are quoting. T his w ord, w rites E dm und W ilson,
which m eans properly decisive, critical, has come to be used, and used
co nstantly, in w ritin g as well as in conversation as if it m eant m erely
im p o rtan t... B u t w hat is crucial, of course, is th a t these books aren t
very g o o d ... Of course it is of crucial im portance.
A nother type of neologism is the n o n c e - w o r d , i . e . a word
coined to su it one p artic u lar occasion. Nonce-words rem ain on the
o u tsk irts of the literary language and Trot infrequently rem ind us of
the uTiters who coined them . They are created to designate'som e in
significant subjective idea or evaluation of a thing or phenom enon and
generally become m oribund. They rarely pass into the language as legitim a te u n its of the vocabulary, but th ey rem ain in tlie ianguage~as~COnsta n t m an ifestatio ns of its innate pmyeL-of_word-bui 1 ding.
Here are some of these neologisms which, by the w ay, have the right
to be called so because they will alw ays rem ain neologisms, i. e. w ill
never lose th eir novelty:
Let me say in the beginning th a t even if I w anted to avoid Texas
I could not, for I am wived in Texas, and mother-in-lowed, and un
cled, and aunted, and cousined w ith in an inch of my life.
(J. Steinbeck)
The p ast participles mother-in-lawed, uncled, aunted and cousined
are coined for the occasion on the analogy of wived and can hardly be ex
pected to be registered by English dictionaries as ordinary English words.
Here are some more exam ples of nonce-words, which strik e us by their
novelty, force and aesthetic aspect.
There is som ething profoundly horrifying in this immense, indef
in ite not-thereness of the M exican scene. (Huxley)
Y oure the bestest good oneshe said the most bestest good one
in the w orld. (H. E. Bates)
T hat was m asterly. O r should one say mistressly." (Huxley)
Surface knowingness (J. U pdike); sevenish (around seven o clock);
morish (a little more) (A. C hristie).
In m odern Engish newTw'ords are also coined by a m eans which is very
productive in technical literatu re and therefore is m ostly found in scien
tific style, viz. by contractions and abbreviations. B ut this m eans is
som etim es resorted to for sty listic purposes. Here are some of these coin
ages which appear daily in different spheres of hum an ac tiv ity .
T R U D ( = tim e rem aining u n til dive). The first letters of this wrord
sequence forms the neologism T r UD which w ill presum ably rem ain as
102

a professional term unknown to w ider circles of n ativ e English speakers.

Such also are the words L O X ( = 1 liquid oxygen explosive, 2. liquid
oxygen) and GOX ( = gaseous oxygen). To the laym an, oxygen is a gas,
bu t in m issilery (also a new word) it is more often a liquid or even a solid,
so gaseous oxygen has to be distinguished. O ther better-know n exam ples
are laser ( = lig h t am plification by stim ulated em ission of radiation);
Unesco (U nited Nations E ducation and Science O rganization); jeep
(GP = General Purpose car).
N ot all of the m eans of word coinage existing in the English language
have been dealt w ith in this short survey. The reason for this is simple:
in sty listics there are ways and m eans of producing an effect which a ttra c t
the atten tio n of the reader not only by the novelty of a coinage but by
a m ore elaborate language effect. This effect m ust be specified to m ake
clear the in tentions of the w riter. The w riter in this case is seeking some
thing th a t will adequately convey his idea to the m ind of the reader. The
m eans assum e some additional force: n o v elty + fo rce.
Therefore in the survey of the m eans of w ord-form ation only those
have been selected which pro\ ide nov elty + fo rce.
The sty listic effect achieved by newly-coined words generally rests
on the ab ility of the m ind to perceive novelty a t the background of the
fam iliar. The sharper the contrast, the more obvious the effect. The
slig h t, alm ost im perceptible changes caused by extensions of an original
m eaning m ight well produce a sty listic effect only when the reader is
well versed in discrim inating nuances of m eaning.
Thus the use of the words commitment and commit in the m eaning of
involvem ent and involve has im perceptibly crept into common use
since approxim ately 1955 and is now freely used. So also are the use of
unfortunately instead of regretfully, the use of dramatic and massive
as intensifiers. Such changes are apparent only to the eye of the lexic ographer and w ill hard ly provoke a twofold application of m eaning, unless,
of course, the context forcibly points to such an application.
However, these words w ill ord in arily carry an expressive function due
to their em otive m eaning.
W hen we tackle the problem of SDs and penetrate more deeply into
its essence, it becomes apparent th a t sty listic function is not confined to
phenom ena which are foregrounded, as newly-coined words generally
are. A sty listic effect m ay also be achieved by the skilful interplay of a
long-established m eaning and one ju st being introduced into the Ianguage-as-a-system .
Thus the word deliver in the U nited S tates has acquired the m eaning
to carry o u t or fulfil an expectation; m ake good (B arnhart D ictionary).
If th is word were to carry its original m eaning alongside the one now
current in the U. S. it would produce a sty listic effect, if, of course, this
twofold ap p lication of the word is done deliberately. N ovelty is not a
device. One m ust distinguish between a deliberate, conscious em ploym ent
of the inherent property of words to be used in different m eanings sim ul
taneously and the introduction of a new m eaning which in the given
context excludes the one from which it is derived.
In the following exam ples taken from the B arnhart D ictionary the

103

italicized words do not display any twofold m eanings, although they are
illu stra tiv e of th e new m eanings these words have acquired.
...h e has spent hours reading governm ent cables, m em oranda
and classified files to brief him self for in-depth discussions.
In -d ep th , adj. m eans going deeply, thoroughly into a subject.
B u ilit, I find, is com pletely typical of the
look in Am er
ican m oviesa swift-m oving, constantly shifting surface th at sug
gests rath er th an reveals depth.
The word now as an adjective is a novelty. B arnhart labels it slang
very fashionable or up-to-date; belonging to the Now G eneration.
And still th e novelty can be used for sty listic purposes provided th a t
th e requirem ents for an SD indicated earlier are observed. It m ust be
repeated th a t new ly-m inted words are especially striking. They check
the easy flow of verbal sequences and force our m ind to take in the ref
erential m eaning. The aesthetic effect in this case will be equal to zero
if the neologism designates a new notion resulting from scientific and
technical investigations. The intellectual will suppress the em otional.
However, coinages w hich aim a t introducing additional m eanings as
a result of an aesthetic re-evaluation of the given concept m ay perform
the function of a sty listic device.

4. SPECIA L COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY

a) Slang

There is hardly any other term th a t is as am biguous and obscure as

th e term s l a n g . Slang seems to m ean everything th a t is below the
s ta n dard of usage of present-dav English.
Much has been said a n ffw n tte n about it. This is probably due to the
un certain ty of the concept itsfelf. No one has yet given a more or less j
satisfactory definition of the term . Nor has it been specified by any lin
guist who deals w ith the problem of the English vocabulary.
The first th in g th a t strikes the scholar is the fact th a t no other E uro
pean language has singled out a special layer of vocabulary and nam ed it
slang, though all of them distinguish such groups of words as jargon, c a n t.
and the lik e. W hy was it necessary to invent a special term for som ething
th a t has not been clearly defined as jargon or cant have? Is this phenom e
non specifically English? H as slang any special features which no other
group w ith in the non-literary vocabulary can lay claim to? The distinc
tions between slang and other groups of unconventional E nglish, though
perhaps su b tle and som etim es difficult to grasp, should nevertheless be
subjected to a more detailed linguistic specification.
*-W ebsters T hird New International D ictionary gives the following
m eanings of the term :
Slang [origin unknown1 1: language peculiar to a p artic u la r group:
as a: the special and often secret vocabulary used by a class (as thieves,
104

beggars) and usu. felt to be vulgar or inferior: argot; b : the jargon used
by or associated w ith a p articu lar trade, profession, or field of a c tiv i
ty; 2 : a non-standard vocabulary composed of words and senses char
acterized p rim arily by connotations of extrem e inform ality and usu.
a currency not lim ited to a p artic u la r region and composed typically
of coinages o r arb itra rily changed words, clipped or shortened forms,
ex trav ag an t, forced or facetious figures of speech, or verbal novelties
usu. experiencing quick p o pularity and relatively rapid decline into
disuse.
The New Oxford Epglish D ictionary defines slang as follows:
a) the special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low
or disreputable character; language of a low a n d 'v u lg a r type. (Now
merged in c. /cant/); b) the cant or jargon of a certain class or period;
c) language of a highly colloquial type considered as below the level
of stan d ard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or
of current words em ployed in some special sense.
As is seen from these quotations slang is represented both as a special vocabulary and as a special language. This is the first thing That
causes confusion. If this is a certain lexical layer, then why should it
be given the ran k of language? If, on the other hand, slang is a certain
language or a dialect or even a patois, then it should be characterized
not only by its peculiar use of words bu t also by phonetic, m orphological
and syntactical peculiarities, _-<# />><- J . B. Greenough and C. L. K itteridge define slang in these words:
S lang... is a peculiar kind of vagabond language, alw ays hanging
on th e /o u ts k irts of legitim ate speech bu t continually stray in g or
forcing its w ay into the m ost respectable com pany. 1
A nother definition of slang which is w orth quoting is one m ade by
Eric P prtridge, the em inent stu d en t of the non-Iiterary language.
Slang is much rather a spoken than a literary language. It origi
nates, n early alw ays, in speech. To coin a term on a w ritten page is
alm ost inevitably to brand it as a neologism which will eith er be
accepted or become a nonce-word (or phrase), but, except in the rarest
instances, th a t term will not be slang. 2
In m ost of the dictionaries si. (slang) is used as convenient sty listic
notation for a word or a phrase th at cannot be specified more exactly.
The obscure etym ology of the term itself affects its use as a sty listic
notation. W henever the notation appears in a dictionary it m ay serve
as an indication th a t the unit presented is non-Iiterary, bu t not p in
pointed. T hat is the reason why the various dictionaries disagree in
the use of th is term when applied as a sty listic notation. 3
1 Greenough and Kitteridge. W ords and th eir W ays in English Spee:h. N,
p. 55.
2 Partridge, Eric. Slang Today and Y esterday. Ldn, 1935, p. 35.
3 See: . P. . , 1950, 6.

105

1929,

Any new coinage th a t has not gained recognition and therefore has
not yet been received into standard English is easily branded as slang.
The Tim es of th e 12th of March, 19b7 gives the following illu stratio n s
of slang: leggo (let go), sarge (sergeant), I ve got a date w ith th a t Miss
M orris to -n ig h t. B ut it is obvious th at leggo is a phonetic im propriety
caused by careless rapid speaking; sarge is a vulgar equivalent of the
full form of th e word; date is a widely recognized colloquial equivalent
(synonym) of the literary and even bookish rendez-vous (a m eeting).
These different and heterogeneous phenom ena united under the vague
term slang cause natu ral confusion and do not encourage scholars to seek
m ore objective criteria in order to distinguish th e various sty listic
layers of the E nglish colloquial vocabulary. The confusion is m ade still
deeper by th e fact th at any word or expression apparently legitim ate,
if used in an arb itrary , fanciful or m etaphorical sense, m ay easily be
labelled as slang. Many words form erly labelled as slang have now become
legitim ate u n its of standard Englis'h. Thus the word kid ( =child), which
was considered low slang in the nineteenth century, is now' a legitim ate
colloquial u n it of th e English literary language.
Some linguists, when characterizing th e most conspicuous features
of slang, point out th a t it requires continuous innovation. It never
g ro w s s t a le . If a slang word or phrase does become stale, i f is replaced
by a new slangism . It is claim ed th a t this satisfies the natu ral desire
for fresh, newly created words and expressions, which give to an u tte r
ance em otional colouring and a subjective evaluation. Indeed, it seems
to be in correspondence w ith the trad itio n al view of English conserva
tism , th at a special derogative term should have been coined to help
preserve th e p u rity of standard E nglish by hindering the penetration
in to it of undesirable elem ents. The point is th a t th e heterogeneous n atu re
of th e term serves as a kind of barrier which checks the natu ral influx of
word coinages into the literary language. True, such barriers are not
w ithout th eir advantage in polishing up th e literary language. This can
be proved by th e progressive role played by any conscious effort to sift
innovations, some of w'hich are indeed felt to be unnecessary, even contam
inating elem ents in the body of the language. In th is respect the Am er
ican newspaper m ay serve as an exam ple of how the absence of such
a sifting process results in the contam ination of th e lite rary tongue of the
n ation w ith ugly redundant coinages. Such a b arrier, however, som etimes
tu rn s into an obstacle which hinders the natural developm ent of the liter
ary language.
The term slang, w hich is w idely used in English linguistic science,
should be clearly specified if it is to be used as a term , i.e. it should
refer to some definite notion and should be definable in ex plicit, sim ple
term s. It is suggested here th a t the term slang should be used for those
forms of th e English vocabulary which are either m ispronounced or
distorted in some way phonetically, m orphologically or lexically. The
term slang should also be used to specify some elem ents which m ay be
called over-colloquial. As for the other groups of words hitherto classif'ed
as slang, th ey should be specified according to th e universally accepted
classification of the vocabulary of a language.
106

B ut th is m ust be done by those whose m other tongue is E nglish.

They, and they only, being n ativ e speakers of the English language,
are its m asters and lawgivers. It is for them to place slang in its proper
category by specifying its characteristic f e a t u r e s , ^ ,
Slang is nothing but a deviation from th e established norm at the
level of th e vocabulary of th e language. V. V. V inogradov w rites th at
one of the tasks set before the branch of linguistic science th a t is now
called stylistics, is a thorough study of all changes in vocabulary, set
phrases, gram m atical constructions, th eir functions, an evaluation
of any breaking aw ay from the established norm , and classification of
m istakes and failures in word coinage. 1
H.
W entw orth and S. Flexner in their D ictionary of A m erican
Slang w rite:
Sometim es slang is used to escape th e dull fa m ilia rity of standard
words, to suggest an escape from the established ro u tin e of everyday
life. W hen slang is used, our life seems a little fresher and a little
m ore personal. Also, as at all levels of speech, slang is sometimes
used for th e pure joy of m aking sounds, or even for a need to attract
atten tio n by m aking noise. The sheer newness and inform ality of
ce rtain slang words produce pleasure.
B ut m ore im portant than this expression of a more or less hidden
aesthetic m otive on the p art of th e speaker is th e slan g s reflection
of th e personality, the outw ard, clearly v isible characteristics of
th e speaker. By and large, the m an who uses slang is a forceful,
pleasing, acceptable personality.
T h is q uotation from a w ell-know n scientific study of slang clearly
shows th a t w hat is labelled slang is either all kinds of nonce-formationsso frequently appearing in lively everyday speech and just as
quickly disappearing from the language , or jocular w ords and wordcom binations th at are formed by using the various m eans of w'ord-building existing in th e language and also by distorting th e form or sense of
existing words. H ere are some m ore exam ples of words th a t are con
sidered slang:
to take stock in to be interested in, attach im portance, give cre
dence to
bread-basket th e stom ach (a jocular use)
to do a f lit to qu it ones flat or lodgings at night w ith o u t paying
the rent or bo ard
rot nonsense!
the ca t's pyjam as the correct th in g
So broad is th e term slang th a t, according to E ric P artrid g e, there
are m any kinds of slang, e.g. Cockney, public-house, com m ercial, so
ciety, m ilita ry , th eatrical, p arliam en tary and others. T h is leads the

1 See: . . .
, 1951, 11 , 146.

au th o r to believe th at there is also a s t a n d a r d s l a n g , the

slang th at -is common to all those who, though em ploying received stand
ard in th eir w ritin g and speech, also use an inform al language which,
in fact, is no language but m erely a way of speaking, using special words
and phrases in some special sense. The m ost confusing definition of the
n a tu re of slang is th e following one given by P artridge.
...p erso n ality and ones surroundings (social or occupational)
are the tw o co-efficients, the t u o chief factors, the determ ining
causes of th e n atu re of slang, as they are of language in general and
of sty le. 1
According to th is statem ent one m ay get the idea th a t language,
sty le and slang all have the same nature, the same determ ining causes.
P erso n ality and surroundings ^determine:
1 . the n atu re of the slang used by a definite person,
2 . th e n atu re of th e language he uses,
3. th e kind of style he writes.
There is a general tendency in E ngland and to some extent in the
US to over-estim ate th e significance of slang by attach in g to it m ore
significance th an it deserves. Slang is regarded as the quintessence of
colloquial speech and therefore stands above all the laws of gram m ar.
Though it is regarded by some purists as a language th at stands below
stan d ard E nglish, it is highly praised now adays as v iv id , more flex
ible, m ore picturesque, richer in vocabulary and so on.
U n w ittingly one arrives at th e idea th a t slang, as used by English
and A m ericans, is a universal term for any w'ord or phrase which, though
not yet recognized as a fact of standard English, has won general recogni
tio n as a fresh innovation quite irrespective of its nature: w hether it is
cant, jargon, dialect, jocular or a pure colloquialism . It is therefore
im p o rtan t, to r the sake of a scientific approach to the problem of a sty l
istic classification of the English vocabulary, to m ake a m ore exact
discrim ination between heterogeneous elem ents in the vocabulary, no
m atter howr difficult it m ay be.
The following is an interesting exam ple illustrating the contrast
between standard English and non-literary English including slang.
In the story By C ourier O. H enry opposes neutral and common
literary words to special colloquial words and slang for a definite sty l
istic purpose, viz. to distort a message by tran slatin g the literary vocab
u lary of one speaker into the non-literary vocabulary of another.
Tell her I am on m y w ay to th e station, to leave for San F ran
cisco, where I shall join th a t A laska m oosehunting expedition.
Tell her th at, since she has,com m anded me neither to speak nor
to w rite to her, I take this m eans of m aking one last appeal to her
sense of justice, for the sake of w hat has been. Tell her th a t to con
demn and discard one who has not deserved such treatm ent, w ithout
giving him her reason or a chance to explain is contrary to her n atu re
as I believe it to be.
1 Partridge, Eric. Op. c it., p. 5.

108

T his message was deli\ ered in the following m anner:

H e told me to tell yer h es got his collars and cuffs in dat grip
for a scoot clean out to Frisco. Den hes goin to shoot snow birds in
de Klondike. H e says yer told him to send round no m ore pink notes
nor come hangin over de garden gate, and he takes dis m ean (sending
th e boy to speak for him . I. G.) of p utting yer wise. H e says yer
referred to him like a has-been, and never g i\e him no chance to kick
at de decision. H e sa>s yer swiled him and never said w hy.
T he contrast between w hat is standard English and w hat is crude,
broken non-Iiterary or uneducated Am erican English has been achieved
by m eans of setting the common literary \o cab u Iary and also the syn
tactical design of th e original message against jargonism s, slang and all
kinds of distortions of forms, phonetic, m orphological, lexical and
sy n tactical.
It is suggestive th at there is a tendency in some m odern dictionaries
to replace th e label slang by inform al or colloquial.1 Such a practice
clearly m anifests th e dissatisfaction of some lexicographers w ith the
term slan g . This is m ainly due to the am biguity of th e term .
On th e other hand, some lexicographers, as has already been pointed
out, still m ake use of the term slang as a su b stitu te for jarg o n , c a n t,
colloquialism , professionalism , vu lg ar, d ialec ta l. Thus, in his
dictionary Prof. B arnhart gives the label si to such innovations as
g ra b to cause (a person) to react; m ake an impression on, which, to
m y m ind, should be classed as new spaper jargon; grass or pot m ari
ju an a, which are positively cant words (the quotation th at follows
proves it quite unam biguously); groovesom ething very enjoyable.
g ru n tU.S. m ilitary slang, which in fact is a professionalism ; gyppy
tum m y, B ritish slang, a common intestinal upset experienced by tra v
ellers , w hich is a colloquialism ; "hangup a psychological or em otion
al problem , w hich is undoubtedly a professionalism which has under
gone extension of m eaning and now, according to B arn h art also m eans
any problem or difficulty, especially one th a t causes annoyance or
irrita tio n .
The use of th e label si in th is w ay is evidently due to th e fact th at
B a rn h a rts D ictionary aim s not so much at discrim ination between
different sty listic subtleties of neologisms but m ainly at fixation of
lexical u n its which have already won general recognition through con
stan t rep etition in new spaper language.
The term slang is am biguous because, to use a figurative expression,
it has become a Ja c k of all trades and m aster of none.
b) Jargonism s
In th e non-Iiterary vocabulary of the English language there is
a group of words th a t are called j a r g o n i s m s . J a r g o n is- rec
1 See also Prof. R. W . Burchfields rem ark o n th e system of labelling in his In tro
duction to A Supplem ent to the Oxford English D ictionary . Oxford, 1972, p . X V I .

109

ognized term for a group of words th a t exists in alm ost every language
and whose .aim is to preserve secrecy w ith in one or another social group._
J argonism
g
, ord >TTth tiilf relJlieVraCTTTffig mpi 3
on them., The trad itio n al m eaning"of th e words is im m aterial, only the
new, im provised m eaning is of im portance. Most of the jargonism s of
any language, and of th e English language too, are absolutely incom pre
hensible to those outside the social group which has invented them .
T hey m ay be defined as a code w ithin cn^lo th a t is special m eanings
of words th a t are imposed on the recognized cocfe^-the d ictionary m ean
ing of th e words.
Thus th e word grease m eans m oney; loaf m eans head; a tiger
h unter is a gam bler; a lexer is a student preparing for a law course.
Jargonism s are social in character. They are not Regional. In B ritain
and in th e US alm ost any social group of people has its own jargon.
The following jargons are well known in the English language: the jargon
of thieves and vagabonds, generally known as cant; the jargon of jazz
people; th e jargon of the arm y, known as m ilita ry slang; the jargon of
sportsm en, and m any others.
The various jargons (which in fact are nothing but a definite group
of words) rem ain a foreign language to the outsiders of any p artic u la r
social group. It is interesting in connection w ith th is to quote a stanza
from Don J u a n by Byron where the poet him self finds it necessary to
comment on th e jargonism s he has used for definite sty listic purposes.
H e from th e world had cut off a great m an,
W ho in his tim e had m ade heroic bustle.
W ho in a row' like Tom could lead the van,
Booze in the k e n 1, or at the spell k e n 2 hustle?
W ho queer a flat"? W ho (spite of Bow stre e ts ban)
On th e high toby-spice4 so flash the muzzle?
W ho on a la rk 5, w ith black-eyed Sal (his blowing) 8
So prim e, so sw ell7, so n u tty " , and so knowing?
The explanation of th e W'ords used here was m ade by B yrons editor
because they were all jargonism s in B yrons tim e and no one would
understand th eir m eaning unless they were explained in norm al E nglish.
Byron w rote th e following ironic com m ent to th is stanza:
The advance of science and of language has rendered it unnec
essary to tran slate th e above good and true English, spoken in its
original p u rity by th e select n o b ility and their patrons. The follow
ing is a stanza of a song which w'as very popular, at least in my early
days:
1
2
3
4
6
0
7
8

ken = a house which harbours thieves

spellken - a play-house o r th eatre
to queer a flat
to puzzle a silly fellow
to flash the muzzle (gun) on the high toby-spice = to rob on horse back
a lark = fun or sport of any kind
a blowing = a girl
swell - = gentlem anly
n u tty = pleasing (to be nuts on = to be infatuated w ith)

110

On th e high toby-spice flash the muzzle,

In spite of each gallows old scout;
If you at all spellken ca n t hustle,
Y oull be hobbled in m aking a Clout.
T hen your Blowing will wax gallows haughty,
W hen she hears of ycur scaly m istake,
S hell surely turn snitch for the forty
T hat her Jack m ay be regular w eight.
If there be any gem m an (gentlem an) so ignorant as to require
a trad u ctio n , I refer him to m y old friend and corporeal pastor and
m aster, Jo h n Jackson, E sq., Professor of pugilism ; who, I trust,
still retain s th e strength and sym m etry of his model of a form, to
gether w ith his good hum our and athletic as well as m ental accom
plishm ents. (John M urray. The Poetical W orks of Lord B yron)
Slang, contrary to jargon, needs no translation. It is not a secret
code. It is easily understood by the English-speaking com m unity and
is only regarded as som ething not quite regular. It m ust also be remem
bered th a t both jargon and slang differ from ordinary language m ainly
in th eir vocabularies. The stru ctu re of the sentences and the m orphology
of th e language rem ain practically unchanged. B ut such is the power
of words, which are th e basic and m ost conspicuous elem ents in the lan
guage, th a t we begin un w ittingly to speak of a separate language.
Jargonism s do not alw ays rem ain the possession of a given social
group. Some of them m igrate into other social stra ta and sometimes
become recognized in th e literary language of the nation. G. H . M cKnight
w rites:
The language of the underw orld provided words facetiouslyadopted by th e fashionable w orld, m any of which, such as fan and
queer and banter and b lu ff and sham and humbug, eventually m ade
th eir way into dignified use. 1
There are hundreds of words, once jargonism s or slang, which have
become legitim ate m em bers of th e English literary language.
Jargonism s have th eir definite place of abode and are therefore easily
classified according to the social divisions of the given period. Almost
any calling has its own jargon, i.e. its set of words w ith w hich its m em bers
intersperse th eir speech and render it incom prehensible to outsiders.
Some linguists even m ain tain th at:
W ithin th e lim its of any linguistic u nity there are as many
languages as there are groups of people throw n together by pro
p in q u ity and common interests. 2
This is, of course, an o\ erstatem ent. First of all, one should not mix
up such notions as language and vocabulary. True, unknow n words

1 M cK night. G. H. Modern English in the M aking. N. Y ., 1956, p. 552.

2 Baugh, A lbert C. H istory of the English Language, p. 385.

Ill

and phrases, if too m any, m ay render speech unintelligible. B ut this fact

does not raise speech to the level of a different language.
Jargonism s, however, do break aw ay from the accepted norm s of
sem antic v aria n ts of words, m e y are a special group w ithin tfte nonlite rary "Iavei1 Of words.
" T here is a common jargon and there are also special professional
jargons. Common jargonism s have gradually lost their"special quality,
which is to prom ote secrecy and keep outsiders in th e dark. In fact, there
are no outsiders where common jargon is concerned. It belongs to all
social groups and is therefore easily understood by everybody. T hat is
w hy it is so d ifficult to draw a hard and fast line between slang and ja r
gon. W hen a jargonism becomes common, it has passed on to a higher step
on th e ladder of word groups and becomes slang or colloquial.
H ere are some further exam ples of jargon:
Piou-Piou a French soldier, a p riv ate in the in fan try . According
to E ric P artrid g e this word has already passed from m ilitary jargon to
ord in ary colloquial speech.
H um m en a false arrest (Am erican)
D a r (from damned average raiser) a persevering and assiduous
stu d en t. (U n iversity jargon)
M a ilo fw ) a sailo r (from the French word 'm atelot')
A lan and w ife a k nife (rhym ing slang)
M anany a sailor who is always p u ttin g off a job or work (nauticat
jargon) (from the Spanish word m anana' to-m orrow )
The word brass in the m eaning of money in general, cash is not ja r
gon inasm uch as there is an apparent sem antic connection between the
general nam e for all a llo ts of copper w ith tin or zinc and cash. The
m etonym ic ties between the two m eanings prevent the word from being
used as a special code word. The same can be said of th e words joker
som ething used to play a trick or win ones point or object w ith from
card-playing, drag to rob vehicles; to soap-box to make speeches
out-of-doors standing on a soap-box'. These are easily understood by n a
tiv e speakers and therefore fail to m eet the m ost indispensable property
of jargon words. They are slang words or perhaps colloquial.
On the other hand, such words as soap and flannel meaning bread
and cheese (n a va l), and some of the words m entioned above are scarce
ly likely to be understood by th e language com m unity. O nly those
who are in th e know understand such words. Therefore they can be classed
as jargonism s.
It will not come am iss to m ention here th e words of V andryes, a
w ell-know n French linguist, who said th a t ...jargon distorts words,
it does not create them . Indeed, the creation of really new' words is
a very rare process. In alm ost any language you can find only a few en
tirely new words. It is not accidental therefore th a t th e efforts of some
poets to coin com pletely new words have proved to be an absolute failure,
th eir attem p ts being u tte rly rejected by th e language com m unity.
In passing, we m ust rem ark th a t both slang and th e \a rio u s jargons
of G reat B ritain differ much m ore from those of America (the U nited
112

S tates and C anada) th an th e literary language in the two countries does.

In fact, the m ost striking difference is to be observed in th e non-literary
layer of words and p articu larly in slang and jargonism s and profession
alism s. (See q uotation from R andolph Q uirk on p. 44).
A m erican slang, rem arks G. H. M cK night, on th e whole re
m ains a foreign language to th e Englishm an. A m erican plays such
as Is zat so and A m erican novels such as B ab b itt have had to be
provided w ith glossaries in order to be intelligible in E ngland. John
G alsw orthy in his recent novel The Silver Spoon m akes a n a tu ra l
istic use of colloquial idiom . H e exhibits th e rich elem ent of native
slang in th e colloquial speech of E ngland. 1
Jargonism s, lik e slang and other groups of the non-literary layer,
d o not alw ays rem ain on th e outskirts of t h e .litera ry language. M any
words have overcom e the resistance of th e language~lawglvers and pur
ists and entered th e stan d ard vocabulary. Thus the words kid, fu n ,
queer, b lu ff, fib, humbug, form erly slang words or jargonism s, are now
considered common colloquial. They m ay be said to be dejargonized.
c) Professionalism s
P r o f e s s i o n a l i s m s , as th e term itself signifies, are the
words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connect
ed by common interests both at work and at home. They com m only
designate some working process or im plem ent of labour. Professional
isms are correlated to term s. Term s, has already been in d icated ,
are coined to nom inate new concepts th at appear in th e process of. and
as a result of. technical progress and the developm ent of science.
I Professional w ords name~anewr already-existing concepts, tools or
in stru m ents, and h av elh tT ty p ical properties of a special code T he m ain
feature ot a tn rot'essionalism is i t s technicality. Professionalism s are special words iriT h e n o n -literary layer of th e E nglish' vocabularyr~wtrefe a s ,j
term iTare a specialized group belonging to the lite ra ry layer of words.
Term s. if th ey are connected w ith a field or branch of science or t echnTqite vvell-known to ordinary people, are easily decoded and enter th e
jie u tra T stra tu m of th e v o cab u lary . ProfessionaTisrns generally rem ain in
ircutatlon xClthirTa definite com m unity, as they-are linked to a common
o rd in a tio n and common social interests. T he sem antic stru cture of th e
term j s usu ally tran sp arent and is thereforeTiasily understood. The sem antic_structure' of a professional ism is often dim med b v th e im age on
whicTTtheTrieaning ot the prolessionalism is based, p articu larly w h e n jh e
features of th e object in question reflect th e process of th e work, m eta
phorically or metoiivmlalTv7/LikR term s, professionalism s do~not allow
any polysem y, they are m onosem antic. I
"
H ere are "some professionalism s used in different trades: tin-fish
(= subm arine); block-buster ( = a bomb especially designed to destroy

1 M cK night, G. H . Modern English in the M aking. Ldn, 1930, p. 556*

113

blocks of big buildings); piper ( = a specialist who decorates pastry w ith

th e use of a cream -pipe); a midder case (a m idw ifery case); outer ( = a
knockout blow).
Some professionalism s, how'ever, l ike certain term s, become popu
lar 'arTit-gradually lose their p ro fe ss io n a lsa v o tir. Thus th e word crane
w hich Byron used in his Don J u a n . . . was a verb m eaning to stretch
out th e neck like a crane before a dangerous le a p (in hunting, in order
to look before you leap ). Now, according to E ric P artrid g e, it has broad
ened its m eaning and is used in th e sense of to hesitate at an obstacle,
a danger. By 1860 it w'as no more a professionalism used in hunting
but had 1 ecome a colloquial word of th e non-Iiterary stratu m and fi
nally , since 1890, entered th e standard English vocabulary.
No good craning at it. L ets go down. (Galsworthy)
.Professionalism s should not be m ixed up w ith jarnonisms. L ike
slang words, professionalism s do not aim at secrecy. They^iultil iTsoctally
useful function in com m unication, ta c ilita tin g a quick and adequate
grasp of th e message.
Good exam ples of professionalism s as used b y a m an-of-letters can
be found in D reisers F inancier. The following passage is an illu stra tio n .
F rank soon picked up all the technicalities of the situation.
A bull, he learned, was one who bought in anticipation of a higher
price to come; and if he wras loaded up w ith a line of stocks he
w'as said to be long. H e sold to realize his profit, or if his m ar
gins were exhausted he was wiped ou t. A bear wras one who sold
stocks w hich m ost frequently he did not have, in anticipation of a
low'er price at which he could buy and satisfy his previous sales. H e
was short when he had sold w hat he did not own, a n d h e v 'a s cov
ered when he bought to satisfy his sales and to realize his profits
or to protect him self against further loss in the case prices advanced
instead of declining. H e W'as in a corner when he found th a t he could
not buy in order to m ake good the stock he had borrowed for delivery
and the retu rn of which had been dem anded. H e was then obliged
to settle p ractically at a price fixed by those to whom he and other
shorts had sold.
As is seen, each financial professionalism is explained by th e author
and th e w ords them selves are in inverted commas to stress th eir pe
cu liar idiom atic sense and also to in d icate th a t th e words do not belong
to th e stan d ard English vocabulary in th e m eanings they are used.
There are certain fields of hum an ac tiv ity w hich enjoy nation-w ide
interest and p o p u larity. T his, for exam ple, is th e case in G reat B ritain
where sports and games are concerned. English pugilistic term inology,
for exam ple, has gained p artic u la rly w ide recognition and therefore
is frequently used in a transferred m eaning, thus adding to th e general
image building function of em otive prose. H ere is an exam ple of th e
use of such professionalism s in fiction.
114

F ath er Knickerbocker m et them a t the ferry giving one a rig h t

hander on the nose and the other an uppercut w ith his le ft ju st to
let them know th a t the fig h t was on."
This is from a story by O. H enry called The D uel in which the
w riter depicts two characters who came from the W est to conquer New
York. The vocabulary of boxing (right-hander, uppercut), as well as
other professional term s found in the story, like ring, to counter, to
clinch, etc., help to m aintain the atm osphere of a fight, which the story
requires.
Professionalism s are used in em otive prose to depict the natural
speech of a character. The skilful use of a professional word will show
not only the vocation of a character, but also education, breeding, en
vironm ent and som etim es even his psychology. T hat is why, perhaps,
a literary device known as s p e e c h - c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n is
so ab u n d an tly used in em otive prose. The use of professionalism s forms
the most conspicuous elem ent of this literary device.
An interesting article was published in the C anadian Globe and M a il1
in which th e au th o r shows how a jo u rn alist who mocks at the profession
alism s in th e language of m unicipal planners, which render their speech
alm ost incom prehensible, him self uses words and expressions u n in te lli
gible to the lay reader. H ere is the article.
JO URNALESE

I was glad to read recently how incom prehensible the language of

city planners is to new spaperm en. I decided to call the author of the ar
ticle and express my appreciation:
H ello, I d like to speak to a reporter of yours nam ed Terrance W ills.
Is he on city side or the n ig h t rewrite desk?'
I m n o t sure. Maybe h es at his type-w ri ter.
The operator said som ething under his breath and then connected
me to the th ird assistant executive city editor. After about 15 m inutes
of th is I was fin ally able to com m unicate directly w ith Mr. W ills:
T h at was a great story you did on plannerese , sir, I told him.
W here did you get the idea for it?
W hy, I ju st went to the morgue one day when there w erent m any
obits to do and I got a few clippings. Then I talked w ith the copy-editor
and he gave me a 32-point italic headline w ith an overhanging deck.
Is th at good?
Sure it is. Even a cub knows th at. Well I wrote a couple of takes
and got it in the box just before the deadline for the second night final
edition.
Is th a t hard to do? I asked. My head was beginning to ache.
W hat? Sure, I guess. L isten, I d like to discuss th is w ith you fur
ther but I m on the rewrite desk and my legman is going to be calling in a
scoop any m inute now. Good-bye.
I sat there w ith the phone in my hand, thankful th a t in this complex
age the jo u rn alists are still preserving sim ple English.
1 Aug.

19, 1966.
115

d) Dialectal Words
T his group of words is obviously opposed to the other groups of
th e non-literary English vocabulary and therefore its sty listic func
tions can be more or less clearly defined. D i a l e c t a l w o r d s are
those which in the process of integration of the English national lan
guage rem ained beyond its literary boundaries, and their use is gener
ally confined to a definite locality. We exclude here what are called
social dialects or even the still looser application of the term as in ex
pressions like poetical dialect or styles as dialects.
W ith reference to this group there is a confusion of term s, p artic u
larly between the term s d i a l e c t a l , s l a n g and v e r n a c u l a r .
In order to ascertain the tru e value and the sty listic functions of dialecta l words it is necessary to look into their nature. For this purpose a
quotation from Cecil W ylds A H istory of Modern C olloquial English
w ill be to th e point.
The h istory of a very large p art of the vocabulary of the presentd ay English dialects is s till very obscure, and it is doubtful whether
m uch of it is of any an tiq u ity . So far very little attem p t has been
m ade to sift the chaff from the grain in th a t very vast receptacle of
th e English D ialect D ictionary, and to decide which elem ents are
really genuine corruptions of words which the yokel has heard from
educated speakers, or read, m isheard, or m isread, and ignorantly
altered , and adopted, often w ith a slig h tly tw isted significance.
P rob ab ly m any hundreds of d ialec t words are of this origin, and
have no historical value w hatever, except inasm uch as they illu stra te
a general p rinciple in the m odification of speech. Such words are
n o t, as a ru le, characteristic of any R egional D ialect, although they
m ay be ascribed to one of these, sim ply because some collector of
dialect forms has happened to hear them in a particu lar area. They
belong ra th e r to the category of m istakes'w h ic h any ignorant speaker
m ay m ake, and which such persons do make, again and again, in
every p art of th e country. 1

We are not concerned here w ith the. historical aspect of dialectal
words. For our purpose it w ill suffice to note th at there b a definite
sim ilarity of functions in the use of slang, ' and any other form
of n o n -literary English and th at of dialectal words. All these groups
when used in em otive prose are m eant to characterize the speaker" as
a person of a certain locality, breeding, education, etc.
There is som etim es a difficulty in distinguishing dialectal words
from colloquial words. Some dialectal words nave Uecome so" fam iliar
in good colloquial or standard colloquial English th a t they are u n i
versally accepted as recognige4units of the standard colloquial E ng
lish. To these words belong(?ass^m eaning a girl or a beloved g irl and
th e corresponding lad, a bojf~6r a young m an, d a ft from the Scottish
and th e northern dialect, m eaning of unsound m ind, silly ; fash also
1 Wyld, Cecil. Op. cit., pp. 13-14.
116

S cottish, w ith the m eaning of trouble, cares. S till they have not lost
their dialectal associations and therefore are used in literary English
w ith -the above-m entioned sty listic function of characterization.
Of qu ite a different n atu re are dialectal words which are easily rec
ognized as corruptions of stan d ard E nglish words, although etym ologically they m ay have sprung from the peculiarities of certain dialects. The
following words may serve as exam ples: hin n y from honey, tittie appar
e n tly from sister, being a childish corruption of the word, c u tty m eaning a
testy or nau g h ty girl or w om an.
Most of th e exam ples so far quoted come from the S cottish and the
northern dialects. This is explained by the fact th at S cotland has strug
gled to re ta in th e p eculiarities of her language. Therefore m any of the
words fixed in dictionaries as dialectal are of Scottish origin.
Among other dialects used for sty listic purposes in lite ratu re is the
southern dialect (in p artic u la r th a t of Som ersetshire). This dialect has
a phonetic p ecu liarity th a t distinguishes it from other dialects, viz.
in itia l [s] and |f] are voiced, and are w ritten in the direct speech of char
acters as [z] and [v], for exam ple: vo lk (fo lk ), vound (fo u n d ), zee
(see), zin k in g (sin kin g ). To show' how the tru ly dialectal w'ords are
interm ingled w ith all kinds of im proprieties of speech, it will be enough
to quote th e following excerpt from G alsw orthys A B it of Love.
Mrs. B urlacom ble: Z urely\ I give 4m a n u m m it afore 'e gets
up; an' 'e 'as 'is brekjus reg lar at nine. Must feed un up. H e'm on
'is feet all day, g oin to zee folk th a t widden w ant to zee an angel,
theym th a t busy; an' w'hen 'e comes in 'e 'It play 'is flute there.
H e'm w a stin aw ay for w ant of 'is wife. T h a ts w'hat tis. On' 'im
so zweet-spoken, tu, tis a pleasure to year 'im Never zays a word!
. n i a W t a l words are only to be found in the stvle of em otive prose,
very rarely in other styles. And even here their use is confined to thel
function of characterizing personalities through their speech. Perhaps
it would not be a false supposition to suggest th a t-if it were not for the
use of the dialectal words in em otive prose they would have already
disappeared en tirely from the English language. The unifying tendency
of the literary language is so strong th at language elem ents used only
in d ialect are doomed to vanish, except, perhaps, those which, because
of th eir vigour and beauty, have w ithstood the integrating power of
th e w ritten language.
W riters who use dialectal words for t he purpose of characterizing
the speech of person in a piece of em otive prose or dram a, introduce
them info- f f ie w o r d te x tu r e in different ways. Some w riters m ake an
unrestrained use of dialectal words and also slang, jargonism s and pro
fessionalism s, not only in characterization, but also in their narrative.
They m istake u n its of language which have not yet established them
selves in stan d ard English for the most striking features of modern
E nglish. An over-abundance of words and phrases of w hat we call nonIiterary English not only makes the reading difficult, but actu ally
contam inates the generally accepted norm s of the English language.
117

O ther w riters use dialectal words sparingly, introducing only units

which are understandable to the intelligent English reader, or they make
use of u n its which they th in k w ill enrich the stan d ard English vocabu
lary. Among words which are easily understood by the average E nglish
m an are: m aister, weel, eneugh, laird, naething and the like, characteris
tic of Scottish.
D ialectal words, unlike professionalism s, are confined in their use
to a definite locality a~ncf m ost ot the~Wonfs deal, as H. C. W yld points
out, w ith the everyday of the co u n try .
Such words will for the most p art be of a more or less techni
cal character, and connected w ith agriculture, horses, ca ttle and
sp o rt." 1
e) Vulgar W ords or V ulgarism s
The term v u l g a r i s m , as used to single out a difinite group of
words of non-standard English, is ra th e r m isleading. The am biguity
of th e term ap p aren tly proceeds from the etym ology of the word. Vulgar,
as explained by the Shorter Oxford D ictionary, m eans a) words or names
em ployed in o rdinary speech; b) common, fam iliar; c) commonly current
or p rev alen t, generally or w idely dissem inated.
Out of seven various m eanings given in W ebsters T hird New In tern a
tional D ictionary six repeat nearly the sam e definitions th a t are given
in th e Shorter Oxford, and only the seventh is ra d ic ally different. Here
it is:
5a: m arked by coarseness of speech or expression; crude or of
fensive in language, b: lewd, obscene or profane in expression...:
indecent, indelicate.
These two subm eanings are the foundation of w hat we here nam e vu l
garism s. So vulgarispis arp:
1) expletivfes and swear words which are of an abusive character,
like dam n, bloody, to h ell, goddam and, as some dictionaries state,
used now as general exclam ations;
2) obscene words. These are known as four-letter words the use of
which is banned in any form of intercourse as being indecent. H istorians
tell us th at in M iddle Ages and down into the 16th century they were
accepted in oral speech and after Caxton even ad m itted to the printed
page. All of these words are of Anglo-Saxon origin.
Vulgarism s are often used in conversation out of h ab it, w ithout any
thought of w hat they m ean, or in im itatio n of"those who use them in or
der not to seem old-fashioned or prudish. U nfortunately in m odern fiction
these words have gained legitim acy. The most vulgar of them are now to
be found even in good novels. This lifting of the taboo has given rise
to the alm ost unrestrained em ploym ent of words w'hich soil the lite rary
language. However, they will never acquire th e statu s of stan d ard E ng
lish vocabulary and will alw ays rem ain on the o utskirts.
1 Wyld, H. C. Op. cit., p. 16.
118

The function of expletives is alm ost the same as th a t of interjections,

th a t is to "express strong em otions, m ainly annoyance, anger, vexation
and th e like. They are not to be found in any functional style of language
except em otive prose, and here only in the direct speech of the characters.
The language of the underw orld is richf ffi Coarse words and expres
sions. B ut not every expression which m ay be considered coarse should
be regarded as a vulgarism . Coarseness of expression m ay resu lt from im
proper gram m ar, non-standard pronunciation, from the misuse of certain
lite rary words and expressions, from a deliberate distortion of words.
These are im proprieties of speech but not vulgarism s. Needless to say the
label coarse is very frequently used m erely to designate an expression
w hich-lacks refinem ent. B ut vulgarism s, besides being coarse properly,
are also ru d e and em otionally strongly charged and, like any m anifesta
tion of excess of feelings, are not very discernible as to their logical
meaning.
f) Colloquial Coinages (Words and Meanings)
C o l l o q u i a l c o i n a g e s (nonce-words), unlike those of a
literary-bookish character, are spontaneous and elusive. This proceeds
from the very n atu re of tHeTEolloquial words as such. Not all of the
colloquial nonce-words are fixed in dictionaries or even in w riting and
therefore m ost of them disappear from the language leaving no trace in it
w hatsoever.
U nlike literary-bookish coinages, nonce-words of a colloquial n a
tu re are n o t usually b u ilt by means of affixes but are based on certain
sem antic changes in words th a t are alm ost im perceptibleT o ffie~fiTTguistic
obiervit_unt.i 1 the word finds its w ay into print.
It is only a careful sty listic analysis of the utterance as a whole
th a t will reveal a new shade of m eaning inserted into the sem antic struc
tu re of a given word or w ord-com bination.
W riters often show th a t they are conscious of the specific character
of th e nonce-word they use by various means. The following are illus
tratio n s of the deliberate use of a new word th a t either was already es
tablished in the language or was in process of being established as such:
...besides, there is a tact-----(T hat modern phrase appears to me sad stuff.
B ut it will serve to keep m y verse com pact).
(Byron, Don J u a n )
According to the Oxford D ictionary th e m eaning of the word tact as
used in these lines appeared in the English language in 1804. B yron,
who keenly felt any innovation introduced into the literary language
of his tim e, accepts it unw illingly.
A sim ilar case in which a w riter makes use of a new ly invented collo
quial expression, evidently strongly appreciating its m eaning, m ay be
noticed in In Chancery, where G alsw orthy uses to be the lim it in the
sense of to be unbearable and com m ents on it.
119

W atching for a m om ent of weakness she wrenched it free; then

placing the dining-table between them , said between her teeth:
You are the lim it, M onty. (U ndoubtedly the inception of this
phraseso is E nglish formed under the stress of circum stance.)
New expressions accepted by m en-of-letters and com m ented on in
one w ay or another are not literary coinages but colloquial ones. New
literary coinages will alw ays bear the brand of individual creation and
w ill therefore have more or less precise sem antic boundaries. The m eaning
of lite rary coinages can easily be grasped by th e re a d e r because of the use
of th e productive means of w ord-building, and also from the context,
of course.
This is not th e case w ith colloquial nonce-words. The m eaning of
these new creations creeps into well-known words im perceptibly. One
hard ly notices the process leading to the appearance of a new meaning.
Therefore colloquial nonce-form ations are actu a lly not new words but
new m eanings of existing words. True, there are some words th a t are
b u ilt w ith th e help of affixes, but the^e are few and they are generally
b u ilt w ith the most common suffixes or prefixes of the English language
which have no shade of bookishness, as -er, -al, un- and the like.
New coinage in colloquial English aw akens as em phatic a protest
on the p art of literary-conscious people as do nonce-words in literary
E nglish. H ere is an interesting quotation from an article in The New
York Tim es Magazine:
P resently used to mean a t the present m om ent but became
so com pletely coloured w ith idea of in the near fu tu re th a t when
its older m eaning came back into general use after W orld W ar II,
through re-introduction into civilian speech of the conservative
m ilitary m eaning, m any people were outraged and insisted th a t the
old m eaning was being corrupted whereas, in fact, the corruption
was being purged. H um an n atu re being w hat it is, and prom ptness
ever behind prom ise, the chances are strong th at the renewed m eaning
w ill fade.
Peculiar o rig inally m eant belonging exclusively to . We still
keep the older m eaning in such statem ent as a custom peculiar
to th at co u n try . But by extension it came to mean uncom m on
and thence od d w ith th e overtones of suspicion and m istrust th a t
oddness moves us to. 1
Some changes in m eaning are really striking. W hat are called se
m antic changes in words have long been under the observation of both
lexicologists and lexicographers. Alm ost every textbook on the study
of words abounds in exam ples of words th a t have undergone such consid
erable changes in m eaning th a t their p rim ary m eanings are alm ost lost.
See th e changes in th e U'ords nice, knave, marshal, fellow, for exam ple.
In some cases it is difficult to draw' a line of dem arcation between
nonce-words of bookish and colloquial origin. Some w'ords w hich have
1 New York Tim es Magazine, Nov. 10, 1963.

120

undoubtedly sprung from the literary-bookish stratum have become

popular in o rdinary colloquial language and have acquired new m eanings
in their new environm ent.
Bergan E vans, co-author of A D ictionary of C ontem porary Usage
in an article published in The New York Times Book Review says th at
W ords are living things. They grow, take roots, ad ap t to environm ent
al changes like any p lan t or an im al. 1 This, of course, should be taken
as a m etaphor. B ut in observing the changes of m eaning th a t words
m ay undergo, the com parison is re ally ap t. The author shows how the
word sophisticated, undoubtedly a word of bookish origin, has devel
oped new .meanings. Let us follow his trend of investigation. The word
sophisticated o rig in ally m eant wise. Then, through its association w ith
the Sophists, it came to mean over-subtle, m arked by specious but
fallacious reasoning, able to make the worse appear the better reason.
Then it developed th e ad d itio n al, derivative sense of a d u lte ra te d , i.e.
spoiled by adm ixture of inferior m ateria l. This m eaning n a tu ra lly gave
b irth to a new shade of m eaning, viz. cdrrfipted. Then suddenly (as Evans
has it) the a ttitu d e im plicit in the word was reversed; it ceased to mean
unpleasantly worldly-wise and came to mean adm irably worldly-wise.
For th e past fifteen years sophistication has been definitely a term of
praise. By 1958 in John O H a ra s From the Terrace, sophistication
had come to signify not corruption but alm ost the irreducible m inimum
of good m anners.
Sudden alteratio n s in m eaning have frequently been observed in
studies of sem antic change. The unexpectedness of some of the changes
is really strik in g and can be accounted for only by the shift of the sphere
of usage from literary to colloquial. It is evidently the intonation pattern
th at brings forth the change. Perhaps the real cause of such changes is
the ironic touch attached to the word sophistication and also to other
words which have undergone such an unexpected shift in m eaning.
It follows then th at some nonce-words and m eanings m ay, on the one
hand, acquire legitim acy and thus become facts of the language, w'hile,
on th e other hand, they m ay be classified as literary or colloquial accord
ing to which of the m eanings is being dealt w ith.
The ways and m eans of sem antic change are som etim es re ally m yste
rious. To use E v an ss words, some words go hog w'ild in m eaning. The
word sophisticated from its colloquial use denoting some passive quality
sta rte d to mean delicately responsive to electronic stim u li, highly
complex m echanically, requiring skilled control, ex trao rd in arily
sensitive in receiving, in terp retin g and tran sm ittin g signals. Or a t least
th a t is w hat one m ust guess it m eans in such statem ents as Modern rader is v astly more sophisticated than quaint, old-fashioned rader. (Time)-,
later th e IL-18 is aeronautical]}' more sophisticated than the giant
TU-114. Pioneer V is exceedingly sophisticated. (C hicagoSunday Times)
and The A n tik y th era mechanism is far more sophisticated than any
described in classical scientific tex ts. (S cien tific A m erican).*
1 The New York Tim es Book Review, Sept. 17, 1961.
a Evans, Bergan. Op. cit.

121

Mr. E vanss artic le shows how unexpected changes in m eaning max

be, and how strangely literary and colloquial nonce-coinages m ay inter
weave.
There is another feature of colloquial nonce-words which m ust not
be overlooked. There are some which enjoy hopeful prospects of staying
in the vocabulary of th e language. The n atu re of these creations is such
th a t if they appear in speech they become noticeable and m ay develop
into catch-w'ords. Then they become fixed as new colloquial coinages
and cease to be nonce-w'ords. They hax'e acquired a new significance and
a new sty listic evaluation. They are then labelled as slang, colloquial,
vulgar or som ething of this kind.
L iterary nonce-words, on the other hand, m ay re ta in the label nonce
for ever, as, for exam ple, B yrons w eatherology.
Nonce-coinage appears in all spheres of life. Alm ost ex^ery calling
has some favourite catch-words which m ay live but a short time. They
m ay become perm anent and generally accepted term s, or they m ay re
m ain nonce-words, as, for exam ple, hateships used by John O H ara in
Ten N orth F rederic.
P articu larly interesting are the contextual m eanings of words. They
m ay rig h tly be called nonce-m eanings. They are frequently used in one
context only, and no traces of the m eaning are to be found in d ictio n a
ries. Thus, th e word opening in the general m eaning of a way in the
sentence This w'as an opening and I followed it, is a contextual m eaning
which m ay or m ay not in the long run become one of the dictionary
meanings.
Most of the words which \\'e call here colloquial coinages are newlym inted words, expressions or m eanings which are labelled slang in many
modern dictionaries. B ut we refrain from using the term so freely as it
is used in dictionaries firstly because of its am biguity, and secondly
because we reserve it for phenomena which in R ussian are known as
, i.e. city vernacular bordering on non-literary speech.

P A R T II I

PHONETIC EX PR E S SIV E M EANS

AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

GENERAL NOTES

The sty listic approach to the utterance is not confined to its stru c
ture and sense. There is another th in g to be taken into account which,
in a certain type of com m unication, viz. belles-lettres, plays an im por
ta n t role. T his is th e way a word, a phrase or a sentence sounds. The
sound of m ost words taken separately w ill have little or no aesthetic
value. It is in co m b in ation w ith o ther words t hat a word m ay acquire
a desired phonetic effect. The way a separate word sounds m ay produce
a certain euphonic im pression, bu t th is is a m atter of individual per
ception and feeling and therefore subjective. For instance, a certain
English w riter expresses the opinion th a t angina [aen'dsaino], pneumonia
[nju'm ounio], and uvula ['juivjula] would m ake beautiful g irls names
instead of w hat he calls lum ps of nam es like Jo a n , Joyce and M aud.
In the poem Cargoes by Jo h n M asefield he considers words like ivory,
sandal-wood, cedar-wood, emeralds and am ethysts as used in the first two
stanzas to be beautiful, whereas those in the 3rd stanza strik e harshly
on th e ear!
W ith a cargo of T yne coal,
R oad-rails, pig-lead,
Fire-wood, iron-w are and cheap tin tray s.
As one poet has it, this is ...3 com bination of words which is dif
ficult to pronounce, in which the words rub against one another, inter
fere w ith one another, push one another.
V erier, a French scientist, who is a specialist on English versifica
tion, suggests th a t we should try to pronounce the vowels [a:, i:, u:] in a
strongly artic u la te d m anner and w ith closed eyes. If we do so, he says, we
are sure to come to the conclusion th at each of these sounds expresses a
definite feeling or state of m ind. Thus he m aintains th a t the sound [u:]
generally expresses sorrow or seriousness; l i :] produces the feeling of
joy and so on.
L. B loom field, a well-known A m erican linguist says:
...in hum an speech, different sounds have different m eaning. To
stu d y th e coordination of certain sounds w ith certain m eanings is
to stu d y language. 1
1 Bloom}ield, L. Language. N. Y ., 1961, p. 27.

123

An interesting statem ent in th is regard is m ade b y a H ungarian lin

guist, Ivan Fonagy:
The great sem antic entropy (a term from theory of com m unication
denoting th e m easure of the unknow n, I.G .) of poetic language stands
in contrast to the p re d ic tab ility of its sounds. Of course, not even in
the case of poetry can we determ ine the sound of a word on the basis
of its m eaning. N evertheless in the larger u n its of line and stanza,
a certain relatio n ship can be found between sounds and content.1
The R ussian poet B. P asternak says th a t he has
. . .alw ays thought th at the m usic of words is not an acoustic
phenom enon and does not consist of the euphony of vowels and
consonants taken separately. It results from the correlation of the
m eaning of th e u tteran ce w ith its sound. 2
The theory of sound sym bolism is based on the assum ption th at sepa
ra te sounds due to th eir articu lato ry and acoustic properties may awake
certain ideas, perceptions, feelings, images, vague though they m ight be.
R ecent investigations have shown th a t it is rash to deny the existence
of universal, or w idespread, types of sound sym bolism . 3 In poetry we
cannot help feeling th a t the arrangem ent of sounds carries a definite
aesthetic function. P oetry is not entirely divorced from music. Such no
tions as harm ony, euphony, rhythm and other sound phenom ena u ndoubt
edly are not indifferent to the general effect produced by a verbal
chain. P o etry , u nlike prose, is m eant to be read ou t loud and any oral
perform ance of a message inevitably involves definite musical (in the
broad sense of th e word) interpretation.
Now let us see w hat phonetic SDs secure th is m usical function.
Onomatopoeia
O n o m a t o p o e i a is a com bination of speech-sounds which aim s
a t im itatin g sounds produced in n atu re (wind, sea, thunder, etc), by
things (machines or tools, etc), by people (sighing, laughter, p atter of
feet, etc) and by anim als. C om binations of speech sounds of this type
w ill inev itab ly be associated w ith w hatever produces the n atu ra l sound.
Therefore the relatio n between onom atopoeia and the phenom enon it
is supposed to represent is one of m etonym y.
There are two varieties of onom atopoeia: direct and indirect. D ir e c t o n o m a t o p o e i a is contained in words th at im itate n a
tu ral sounds, as ding-dong, buzz, bang, cuckoo, tintinabulation, mew, pingpong, roar and the like.
These words have different degrees of im itativ e quality. Some of
them im m ediately bring to m ind w hatever it is th a t produces the sound.
1
*
*
bcolc,

Fonagy, Ivan. Com m unication in P o etry . W ord , vol. 17, No. 2, 1961, p . 212.
. . , 1967, ., 1, . 219.
Hymes, D ell . Some of English Sonnets. In: S tyle in Language , fd . Th. Se1960, p. 112.

124

Others require the exercise of a certain amount of imagination to de

cipher it.
O nom atopoetic words can be used in a transferred m eaning, as for
instance, ding-dong, which represents the sound of bells rung continu
ously, m ay m ean 1) noisy, 2) strenuously contested. Exam ples are:
a ding-dong struggle, a ding-dong go a t something.
In the following new spaper headline:
D IN G -D O N G R O W O P E N S ON B IL L , both m eanings are im plied.
Indirect onomatopoeia
is a com bination of sounds
the aim of which is to m ake the sound of the utterance an echo of its
sense. It is som etim es called echo-w riting. An exam ple is:
And the silken, sad, uncertain ru stlin g of each purple c u rta in
(E. A. Poe),
where th e re p etitio n of the sound [s] actu a lly produces the sound of the
ru stlin g of th e curtain.
^
In direct onom atopoeia, unlike a llite ratio n , dem ands some m ention
of what makes the sound, as ru stlin g (of curtains) in the line above.
The sam e can be said of the sound [w] if it aim s at reproducing, let us
say, th e sound of wind. The word w ind m ust be m entioned, as in:
W henever the moon and stars are set,
W henever the w ind is high,
All n ight long in the dark and wet
A man goes rid in g by. (R. S. Stevenson)
Indirect onom atopoeia is som etim es very effectively used by re
peating words which them selves are not onom atopoetic, as irT P o e s
poem The Bells where the words tinkle and bells are d istributed in
the following m anner:
Silver bells... how they tinkle, tinkle, tin k le
and further
To the tin tin ab u la tio n th a t so m usically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells
From the jin g lin g and the tin k lin g of the bells.
Alongside obviously onom atopoetic words as tinkle, tintinabulation
and jin g lin g the word bells is drawn into the general m usic of the poem
and begins to display onom atopoetic properties through the repetition.
H ere is another example:
M ostly he moved in urgent, precise, clipped m ovem entsgo, go,
goand talked the same way staccato sentences.
The onom atopoetic effect is achieved by the re p etitio n of the unonom atopoetic word go the pronunciation of which is prom pted by the
word clip p ed , suggesting short, quick, ab ru p t m otions. One seems even
to hear th e sound of his footsteps.

125

A skilful exam ple of onom atopoetic effect is shown by R obert Sou

they in his poem How the W ater Comes down at Ladore. The title of
the poem reveals the purpose of the w riter. By artful com bination of
words ending in -ing and by the gradual increase of the num ber of words
in successive lines, the poet achieves the desired sound effect. The poem
is ra th e r too long to be reproduced here, b u t a few lines will suffice as
illu stratio n s:
And nearing and clearing,
And falling and craw ling and spraw ling,
And gleam ing and stream ing and steam ing and beaming,
And in th is w ay the w ater comes down at Ladore.
Alliteration
A pt A lliteratio n s A rtful Aid.
Charles Churchill

A l l i t e r a t i o n is a phonetic sty listic device which aim s a t im

p artin g a m elodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in
the rep etitio n of sim ilar sounds, in p articu lar consonant sounds, in close
succession, p articu larly a t the beginning of successive words:
The possessive instinct never stands still. Through florescence
and feud, frosts and fires it follows the laws of progression.
(Galsworthy)
or:
Deep in to th e darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fear
ing,
D oubting, dream ing dream s no m ortals ever dared to dream before.
(E. A. Poe)
A lliteration, like most phonetic expressive means, does not bear
any lexical or other m eaning unless we agree th a t a sound m eaning exists
as such. B ut even so we m ay not be able to specify clearly the character
of th is m eaning, and the term w ill m erely suggest th a t a certain am ount
of inform ation is contained in the rep etitio n of sounds, as is the case w ith
the rep etitio n of lexical units.
However, certain sounds, if repeated, m ay produce an effect th a t can
be specified.
For exam ple, th e sound [m] is frequently used by Tennyson in the
poem The Lotus E aters to give a som nolent effect.
How sweet it w ere,...
To lend our hearts and sp irits wholly
To the m usic of m ild-m inded m elancholy;
To m use and brood and live again in m em ory.
126

Therefore allite ratio n is generally regarded as a m usical accompn

nim ent of the a u th o rs idea, supporting it w ith . vague em otional
atm osphere which each reader interprets for him self. Thus the re p eti
tion of the sound [dl in the lines quoted from P oes pcem The Raven"
prom pts the feeling of anxiety, fear, horror, anguish or all these feelings
sim u ltan eo u sly .
Sometim es a com petent reader, if unable to decipher the im plied
purpose of the allite ratio n , m ay grow irritated if it is overdone and be
ready to discard it from the arsenal of useful sty listic devices.
An interesting exam ple of the overuse of a llite ratio n is given in
S w inburne's N ephelidia where the poet parodies his own style:
Gaunt as the g hastliest of glim pses th a t gleam through the
gloom of th e gloam ing when ghosts go aghast.
W hen the choice of words depends p rim arily on the principle of a lli
teratio n , ex actitu d e of expression, and even sense m ay suffer. B ut w'hen
used sparingly and w ith at least some slight inner connection w ith the
sense of the utterance, a llite ratio n heightens the general aesthetic effect.
A lliteratio n in the English language is deeply rooted in the traditions
of English- fotkIore. T h e laws of phonetic arrangem ent in Anglo-Saxon
poetry differed g reatly from those of present-day English poetry. In
Old English poetry alliteratio n was one of the basic principles of verse
and considered, along w ith rh y th m , to be its m ain characteristic. Each
stressed m eaningful word in a line had to begin w ith the same sound or
com bination of sounds. Thus, in Beowmlf:
F yrst ford gevvat: flota wses on ydum,
bat under becrge. Beornas gearwe
on stefn stigon: stream as wundon,
sund wid sande; secgas bocrcn
on bearm nacan beorhte fratw 'e...
The re p etitio n of the in itial sounds of the stressed words in the line,
as it were, integrates the utterance into a com positional unit. U nlike
rhym e in modern English verse, the sem antic function of which is to
chain one line to another, allite ratio n in Old English verse was used to
consolidate th e sense w'ithin the line, leaving the relatio n between the
lines ra th e r loose. B ut there really is an essential resem blance stru ctu ral
ly between a llite ratio n and rhym e (by the rep etitio n of the same sound)
and also functionally (by com m unicating a consolidating effect). A lli
teratio n is therefore sometimes called in itial rhym e.
The trad itio n s of folklore are exceptionally stable and alliteratio n
as a stru ctu ral device of Old English pcems and songs has shown rem ark
able co n tin u ity . It is frequently used as a w ell-tested m eans not only
in verse but in em otive prose, in new spaper headlines, in the titles of
books, in proverbs and sayings, as, for exam ple, in the following:
T it for ta t; b lind as a b a t, betw ixt and between; It is neck or
nothing; to rob Peter to pay Paul;
r in the titles of books:
127

Sense and S ensibility (Jane A ustin); Pride and Prejudice (Jane

A ustin); The School for Scandal (Sheridan); A Book of Phrase and
F able (Brewer),
Rhyme
R h y m e is the re p etitio n of identical or sim ilar term inal sound
com binations of words.
R hym ing words are generally placed at a regular distance from each
other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding
lines.
Id e n tity and p artic u la rly sim ilarity of sound com binations m ay be
relativ e. F o r; instance, we distinguish between f u l l r h y m e s and
incomplete
r h y m e s . The full rhym e .presupposes id en tity
of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed
syllable, as in m ight, rig h t; needless, heedless. W hen there is id en tity
of the stressed syllable, including the in itial consonant of the second
syllable (in polysyllabic words), we have exact or identical rhymes.
Incom plete rhym es present a greater variety. They can be divided
into two m ain groups: v o w e l
r h y m e s and n s o n a n t
r h y m e s . In vowel rhym es the vowels of the syllables in corresponding
words are identical, but the consonants m ay be different, as in fle sh
fr e s h p r e s s . Consonant rhym es, on the contrary, show concordance in
consonants and d isp arity in vowels, as in w orth - fo r th ; ta le to o l
Trebletrouble, flu n g long.
M odifications in rhym ing som etim es go so far as to m ake one word
rhym e w ith a com bination of words; or two or even three words rhym e
w ith a corresponding two or three words, as in upon her honourwon
her, bottomforgot'em shot him. Such rhym es are called compound
or broken. The p ecu liarity of rhym es of this type is th at the com bina
tion of words is m ade to sound like one worda device which inevitably
gives a colloquial and sometimes a hum orous touch to the utterance.
Compound rhym e m ay be set against w'hat is called e e-r h m e,
where th e letters and not sounds are identical, as in loveprove, flood
brood, havegrave. It follows therefore th a t whereas compound rhym e is
perceived in reading aloud, eye-rhym e can only be perceived in the w rit
ten verse.
M any eye-rhym es are the result of historical changes in the vowel
sounds in certain positions. The co n tin u ity of English verse m anifests
itself also in reten tio n of some pairs of w hat were once rhym ing words.
B ut on th e analogy of these pairs, new' eye-rhym es have been coined and
the model now functions alongside ear-rhymes.
According to the way the rhym es are arranged w ithin the stanza,
certain m odels have crystallized, for instance:
1. coupletswhen the last words of two successive lines are rhym ed.
T his is com m only m arked an,
2. triple rhym es aaa
3. cross rhym es abab
4. fram ing or ring rhym esabba
128

There is still another v arie ty of rhym e which is called i n t e r n a l

r h m e . The rhym ing words are placed not a t the ends of the lines
but w ithin the line, as in:
I bring fresh showers for the th irstin g flowers." (Shelley)
or:
Once upon a m idnight dreary w hile I pondered weak and weary."
(Poe)
Internal rhym e breaks the line into two distinct p arts, at the sam e
tim e more strongly consolidating the ideas expressed in these two parts.
Thus rhym e m ay be said to possess two seem in g lj'tco n trad icto ry func
tions: d i s s e v e r i n g , on the one hand, and c o n s o l i d a t i n g ,
on the other. As in m any sty listic devices, these two functions of rhym e
are realized sim ultaneously in a greater or lesser degree depending on
the d istrib u tio n of the rhym es. In aa rhym es the consolidating function
is rath er conspicuous. In aabaab rhym es the rhym ing words bb m ay
not im m ediately reveal their consolidating function.
The dissevering function of internal rhym e m akes itself felt in a
d istinctive pause, which is a n atu ral result of the longer line. This qual
ity of internal rhym e m ay be regarded as a leading one.
The d istin ctiv e function of rhym e is p artic u la rly felt when it occurs
unexpectedly in ordinary speech or in prose. The listen ers atten tio n is
caught by the rhym e and he m ay lose the thread of the discourse.
.Rhythm

R h y t h m exists in all spheres of hum an a c tiv ity and assumes

m ultifarious forms. It is a m ightly weapon infstirrin g up em otions w hat
ever its n atu re or origin, w hether it is m usical, m echanical, or sym m etri
cal, as in architecture.
The m ost general definition of rh y th m m ay be expressed as follows:
R hythm is a flow, m ovem ent, procedure, etc., characterized by basic
ally regular recurrence of elem ents or features, as beat, or accent
in altern atio n w ith opposite or different elem ents or features (W eb
sters New World D ictionary).
R hythm can be perceived only provided th a t there is some kind
of experience in catching th e opposite elem ents or features in th eir cor
relatio n , and, w hat is of param ount im portance, experience in catching
th e reg u larity of altern atin g patterns. R hythm is prim arily a p e r i odi i t y, which requires specification as to the ty p e of periodicity.
According to some investigations, rhythm ical periodicity in verse re
quires intervals of about three quarte1- of a second between successive
peaks of peri ds. 1 It is a deliberate arrangem ent of speech into regularly
recurring u n its intended to be grUSped as a definite periodicity which
m akes rh y th m a sty listic device.
R hythm , therefore, is th e m ain factor which brings order into the
utterance. The influence of the rhythm on the sem antic aspect of the
1 De Groot, A . W. The D escription of a Poem. Proceedings of th e N inth In tern atio

nal Congress of Linguists. Mouton L. C., 1964, p. 298.

5 Ns 237e

129

u tteran ce is now being carefully investigated and it becomes apparent

th at orderly phonetic arrangem ent of the u tteran ce calls forth orderly
syntactical structures which, in th eir tu rn , suggest an orderly segm ent
ing of th e sense-groups. The conscious perception of rhythm s m ust be
acquired by train in g , as m ust the perception o f'a n y stylistic device.
Some people are said to be com pletely deaf to rhythm and w hatever
efforts are exerted to develop this sense in them inevitably fail. B ut
th is is not true. A person m ay not be able to produce a flow of rh y th m i
cal u n its, but he can certain ly acquire a feeling for rhythm if he trains
his ear.
R hythm in language necessarily dem ands oppositions th a t a lte r
nate: long, short; stressed, unstressed; high, low; and other contrasting
segments of speech. Some theoreticians m ain tain th a t rhythm can only
be perceived if there are occasional deviations from the regularity of
altern atio n s. In th is connection De Groot w rites:
It is v ery strange indeed th a t deviations from the them e (i.e.
the accepted kind of periodicity, / . G.) in separate lines (called irreg
u larities of th e line) have been looked upon as deficiencies of the
poem by such em inent scholars as Jespersen and Heusseler. On the
contrary, they are indispensable, and have both a formal and expres
sive function. H arm ony is not only a m atter of sim ilarity , but also
of d issim ilarity , and in good poetry, irregularities of lines are among
the most im p o rtant features of th e poem both in their formal and
th eir expressive functions. A ctually, the beauty of a poem is less
dependent upon th e regularities th a n upon th e irregularities of the
poem. 1
A cadem ician V. M. 2irm unsky suggests th a t the concept of rhythm
should be distinguished from th at of m etre. M e t r e is any form of
periodicity in verse, its kind being determ ined by the character and num
ber of syllables of w hich it consists. T he m etre is an ideal phenom enon
characterized by its strict regularity, consistency and u n ch a n g eab ility .2
R hythm is flexible and som etim es an effort is required to perceive it.
In classical verse it is perceived at th e background of the m etre. In ac
cented verseby th e num ber of stresses in a line. In proseby th e al
tern atio n of sim ilar syntactical patterns. H e gives th e following defini
tio n of verse rh y th m . It is the actual altern atio n of stress which appears
as a result of in teractio n between th e ideal m etrical law and the natural
phonetic properties of the given language m ateria l. 3 H e holds th e view
th a t rom antic poetry regards m etrical forms as a conventional trad itio n ,
which hinders th e vigorous individual creativ ity of the poet and narrows
th e p otential v arie ty of poetic m aterial.
T his tren d in lite ra tu re justifies all kinds of deviations from the m et
rical scheme as well as the dissim ilarity of stanzas; it favours enjam bm ent
(see p. 257) because it violates the m onotonous concurrence of th e rh y th
1 Ib id ., p. 300.
2 See: . . . , 1925, . 40.
3 Ibid., . 44.

130

mical and sy n tactical u n its of th e m etrical system; it m akes am ple use

of im perfect rhym es, inasm uch as they v io late the triv ia l exactness of
sound correspondence. It follows then th at the concept of rh y th m should
not be identified w ith th a t of m etre, th e la tte r, be it repeated, appearing
only in classical verse as an ideal form, an in v arian t of the given scheme
of altern atio n . However, th e deviations (the variants) m ust not go so
far as to obscure th e consciously perceived ideal scheme. As has been
pointed out before, sty list ic effect can only be achieved if there is a clearcut dichotom y of th e constituent elem ents. In the present case the dicho
tom y is perceived in th e sim ultaneous m aterialization of th e orthodox
and free p attern s of m etrical altern atio n . J . M iddleton M urry states:
In order th at rhythm ic effects should be successful they m ust
be differentiated w ith certainty; and to m anage contrasts of rh y th m
w ithout contrast there is no d ifferentiationw ith so m uch subtlety
th at they will rem ain subordinate to the intellectual suggestion of
th e words, is th e most delicate work im aginable. 1
In his notes on Shakespeares plays our Russian poet B. P asternak
expressed th e same idea in th e following words:
...T h e m etre (that of blank verse, I. G.) is not m ade conspicuous.
T his is not a recitation. T he form w ith its self-adm iration does not
overshadow th e content, which is infathom able and chaste. It is an
exam ple of sublim e poetry which in its finest exam ples has always
th e sim p licity and freshness of prose. 2
V. M ayakovsky framed th is idea in poetic form. R h y th m , he writes,
is th e foundation of every poetic work, and passes through it like a
clam our. And further, I get m y m etre by covering th is clam our w ith
words. 3 The R ussian poet A. Blok said th a t the poet is not one who
w rites verses, b u t th e bearer of rhythm .
Verse did not become entirely divorced from m usic when it began to
live as an independent form of art. As is known, verse has its origin in
song; but still th e musical elem ent has never been lost; it has assumed a
new from of existencerhythm .
It follows then th at rhythm is not a m ere addition to verse or emo
tiv e prose, which also has its rh y th m , and it m ust not be regarded as
possessing phonetic autonom y am ounting to an irrelevant te x tu re ,
but has a m eaning. 4 This point of view is now gaining ground. Many
attem p ts have been m ade to ascribe m eaning to rhythm and even to
specify different m eanings to different types of m etre. This is im por
ta n t, inasm uch as it contributes to the now -prevailing idea th at any
form m ust m ake some contribution to the general sense. R hythm in
tensifies th e em otions. It also specifies em otions. Some students of rhythm
go so far as to declare th a t ...o n e obvious agency for the expression
1 M urry, J. Middleton. The Problem of Style. Ldn, 1961, p. 86.
2 . , 1956, . 798.
3 . 13 , 1959, . 12,
- 100 102.
4 , V. . Metre and Meaning. PMLA, 1954, No. 4, p. 700.

5*

131

of his (a p o ets) a ttitu d e is surely m etre 1 and th a t ...th e poets a ttitu d e

tow ard his reader is reflected in his m anipulationsom etimes his dis
regardof m etre. 2
So divergence from the ideal m etrical scheme is an inherent quality
of rhythm in v erse.3 The range of divergence m ust, however, have its
lim its. D eviations from the m etrical them e are free w ithin the given
fram e of v ariatio n , but they cannot go beyond th a t framg lpst the rh y th
m ical p attern should be destroyed. Peihnissible ^deviations from the given
m etre are called m o d i f i c a t i o n s of the rhythm ical pattern. Some
of them occur so frequently in classical verse th a t they become, as it
were, constituents of the rhythm .
If violations of the m etre take root, w rites R. Jakobson, they
them selves become ru le s... and further,
...th ese are allowed oscillations, departures w ithin the lim
its of th e law. In B ritish p arliam en tary term s, it is not an opposition
to its m ajesty the m etre, bu t an opposition of its m ajesty. 4
It has already been pointed out th a t if rhythm is to be a sty listic
category, one th in g is required the sim ultaneous perception of two
co n trasting phenom ena, a kind of dichotom y. Therefore rhythm in verse
as an SD is defined as a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and the
variations of it, variations which are governed by the standard.5
There are, however, certain cases in verse where no departures are
allow ed and the rh ythm strikes the ear w ith its strict reg u larity . These
are cases where th e rhythm contributes to the sense. Thus in R obert
S outheys How th e W ater Comes Down a t Ladore (see p. 126) the rhythm
itself is m eant to interpret the m onotonous roar of the w aterfall; or
in Edw ard L ears poem The N utcrackers and the Sugar-tongs where
th e rh y th m reproduces th e beat of galloping horses feet, or in march
rhythm where th e beat of the lines suggests a musical foundation. In
short, wherever there is a recognizable sem antic function of the rhythm
few, if any, deviations are evident.
R hythm reveals itself most conspicuously in m usic, dance and verse.
W e have so far dealt w ith verse because the properties of rhythm in
language are most observable in this mode of com m unication. We shall
now proceed to the analysis of rhythm in prose, bearing in m ind th at
th e essential properties of prose rhythm are governed by the sam e gener
al rules, though not so apparent, perhaps, as in verse, and falling under
different param eters of analysis.
Much has been said and w ritten about rhythm in prose. Some in
vestigators, in a tte m p tin g to find rh y th m ical p attern s of prose, super
1 H amm , V. M . Op. cit., p. 706.
8 Ibid., pp. 709-710.
3 For the kinds of m etre and the deviations from it see the chapter on Language of
Poetry, p. 252.
A Jakobson, R . Linguistics end Poetics. In: Style in Language , p. 364.
'* Cf. J . A R ichard s statem en t th a t The ear . . . grows tired of stric t regularity,
b u t delights in recognizing behind the v ariatio n s the standard th a t still governs them
(Practical C riticism , p. 227).

132

impose m etrical measures on prose and regard instances which do not

fall under the suggested m etrical scheme as varian ts. B ut the param eters
of the rhythm in verse and in prose are en tirely different. R. Jakobson
states: ...a n y m etre uses the syllable as a u n it of m easure at least in
certain sections of the verse. 1 The u n it of measure in prose, however,
is not the syllable but a structure, a w ord-com bination, a sequence of
words, th at is, phrases, clauses, sentences, even supra-phrasal u n its .2 The
stru ctu ral p attern , which in the p articu lar case is the rhythm ical unit,
will be repeated w ithin the given span of prose. The rhythm will be
based not-on the regular altern atio n of opposing units, i.e. a regular beat,
but on the rep etitio n of sim ilar structural un its following one another
or repeated after short intervals. The peculiar property of prose rhythm ,
p artic u la rly in 20th century prose, is th a t it occurs only in relativ ely
short spans of tex t, and th a t it constantly changes its p atterns and m ay
suddenly drop to a norm al, alm ost unapparent rhythm ical design or to
no rhythm a t all.
It m ust be m ade clear th at m etrical or accented rh y th m , which is
an internal and indispensable property of verse, is incidental in prose,
which in its very essence is arhythm ical. A prose passage interpolated
into a work w ritten in verse, a device so favoured by some poets, has its
significance in the acute opposition of the two modes of expression: rh y th
mical versus arhythm ical.
The most observable rhythm ical pattern s in prose are based on the
use of certain sty listic syntactical devices, nam ely, enum eration, re
petitio n , parallel construction (in p articu lar, balance) and chiasm us.
The beginning of D ickens A Tale of Two C ities (see p. 223) m ay serve
as an illu stra tio n of prose rh y th m . H ere the rhythm is easily discernible.
In the following passage it is more difficult to catch the rhythm ,
though when the passage is read aloud, the rhythm is clear.
The high-doping roof, of a fine sooty pink was alm ost D anish,
and two ducky little windows looked out of it, giving an impression
th at very tall servants lived up there.
(Galsworthy)
H ere the rh y th m ical p attern of the utterance is alm ost im perceptible
to an untrained ear, but w ill clearly be felt by one w ith rhythm ical
experience. The paired attrib u te s high-sloping, fine sooty, ducky little
and likewise the a ttrib u te w ith an adverbial m odifier very tall are all
stru c tu ra lly sim ilar w ord-com binations and therefore create the rhythm .
As a good exam ple of oscillating prose rhythm hard ly dissectable
into rhythm ical u n its is the following excerpt from Som erset M augham 's
The P ain ted V eil:
W alter, I beseech you to forgive m e, she said, leaning over
him . For fear th a t he could not bear the pressure she took care not
to touch him. I m so desperately sorry for the wrong I did you.
I so b itte rly regret it.
1 Jakobson, R . Op. cit., p. 360.
2 See a very interesting article by V. M. Z irm unsky on rh y th m ic prose, in To
Honor R. Jakobson, Mouton, 1967.

133

H e said nothing. He did not seem to hear. She was obliged to

insist. It- seemed to her strangely th a t his soul was a flu tterin g m oth
and its wings were heavy w ith hatred.
D arling.
A shadow passed over his wan and sunken face. I t was less than
a m ovem ent, and yet it gave all the effect of a terrifying convulsion.
She had never used th a t word to him before. Perhaps in his dying
brain there passed the thought, confused and difficulty grasped, th at
he had only heard her use it, a com m onplace of her vocabulary, to
dogs, and babies and motorcars. Then som ething horrible occurred.
She clenched her hands, trying w ith all her m ight to control herself,
for she saw two tears run slowly down his wasted cheeks.
Oh, m y precious, my dear, if you ever loved me I know you
loved me and I was hateful I beg you to forgive me. I ve no chance
now to show m y repentance. H ave mercy on me. I beseech you to
forgive.
She stopped. She looked at him , all breathless, w aiting passion
ately for a reply. She saw th a t he tried to speak. H er heart gave
a great bound.
The long passage is necessary in order th a t the fluctuating, rh y th
m ical p attern of both the au th o rs and the characters speech m ight
be observed. The most obvious rhythm ical u n it here is the structural
sim ilarity of the sentences. The overwhelm ing m ajority of the senten
ces are short, sim ple, alm ost unextended, resem bling each other in
stru ctu ral design: He said nothing, He did not seem to hear, She
was obliged to in sist, A shadow passed over his wan and sunken face,
She had never used th at word to him before, She saw th a t he tried to
speak, H er heart gave a great bound.
Likewise the characters speech is m arked by the same feature
the sentences are short, sim ple, resem bling each other in their structural
design: W alter, I beseech you to forgive me, I beg you to forgive
m e, I ve no chance now to show my repentance, I beseech you to for
g iv e and earlier I m so desperately sorry... I so b itte rly regret i t .
But it is not only the repetition of the structural design of the sen
tences th a t makes the rhythm : there, are other elem ents contributing
to it. W ith the increase of em otional tension the author alm ost slips
into the iam bic rhythm of blank verse. D ram atic feeling dem ands reg
ular rhythm . As the em otion becomes tenser, the rhythm ical beat and
cadence of the words becomes more evident. Mark the sentence which
begins w ith P erhaps in his dying b ra in ... H ere a kind of m etrical
rhythm can easily be discerned
there passed the thought confused and

| U

difficulty grasped
I
th a t he had only heard her use it, . . .
134

and so it goes on u n til the phrase then som ething horrible occurred.
Of course th is inter-correlation of the rhythm ical units in the passage
is open to discussion. There m ay be various delivery instances. In this
connection R. Jakobson says th a t a v ariation of verse instances w ithin
a given poem m ust be strictly distinguished from the variable delivery
instances. 1
Indeed, alm ost any piece of prose, though in essence arhythm ical,
can be m ade rhythm ical by isolating words or sequences of words and m ak
ing ap p ropriate pauses between each. In order to distinguish the variable
delivery instances of an utterance from its inherent structural and se
m an tic properties, it is necessary to subject the text to a thorough an a l
ysis of the correlated com ponent parts. The short survey of the passage
above show's th at the prose rhythm is interspersed w ith genuine m etrical
rhythm not devoid, of course, of the m odifications which m ake the verse
rhythm less conspicuous.
A very good exam ple of prose rhythm can be seen in the chapter
from G lasw orthys Man of P roperty en titled J u n e s T re at a passage
from w'hich is given later (see p. 266).
It m ust be noted th a t the irruption of prose into a m etrical pattern
is generally perceived as an n ih ilatio n of rhvthm , whereas the intro
duction of m etrical pattern into prose aim s at consolidating the already
vaguely perceived rhythm of the utterance.
Prose rhy th m , unlike verse rhythm , lacks consistency, as it follows
various principles. B ut nevertheless a trained ear w ill alw ays detect
a kind of altern atio n of syntactical units. The task is then to find these
u n its and to ascertain the m anner of alternation. This is not an easy
task because, as has already been pointed out, rhythm is not an essen
tial property of prose, whereas it is essential in verse. Prose is the oppo
site of verse and this opposition is p rim arily structural, in this case,
rhythm ical stru ctu re versus arythm ical structure. The incursion of
prose into p o etrj is a deliberate device to break aw ay from its strict
rhythm .
1 Jakobson, R- Op. cit., p. 365.

P A R T IV

LEXICAL E X PR ESSIV E M EANS

A N D STYLISTIC DEVICES

A. INTENTIONAL MIXING OF THE STYLISTIC ASPECT OF WORDS

H eterogeneity of the com ponent p arts of the utterance is the basis
for a sty listic device called b a t h o. U nrelated elem ents are brought
together as if they denoted things' equal ini rank or belonging to one
class, as if they were of the same sty listic aspect. By being forcibly linked
together, the elem ents acquire a slight m odification of m eaning.
Sooner shall heaven kiss ea rth (here he fell sicker)
Oh, Ju lia! w hat is every other woe?
(For God's sake let me have a glass of liquor,
Pedro, Battista, help me down below)
J u lia , m y love! (you rascal, Pedro, quicker)
Oh, Ju lia! (this curst vessel pitches so)
Beloved J u lia , hear me still beseeching!
(Here he grew inarticulate with retching.)
Such poetic expressions as heaven kiss e a rth , w hat is every other
woe; beloved Ju lia , hear me still beseeching are joined in one flow of
utterance w ith colloquial expressions For G ods sake; you rascal;
help me down below, this curst vessel pitches so. This produces an
effect which serves the purpose of lowering the' loftiness of expression,
inasm uch as there is a sudden drop from the elevated to the com m onplace
or even the ridiculous.
As is seen from this exam ple, it is not so easy to distinguish w hether
the device is more linguistic or more logical. B ut the logical and lin
guistic are closely interwoven in problem s of stylistics.
A nother exam ple is the following
B ut oh? ambrosial cashl who would lose thee?
W hen we no more can use, or even abuse thee!
(Don J u a n )
Am brosial is a poetic word m eaning delicious, frag ran t, divine.
Cash is a common colloquial word m eaning m oney, money th at a per
son actu ally h as, ready m oney.
W henever literary words come into collision w ith non-literary ones
there arises incongruity, which in any style is alw ays deliberate, inas
much as a style presupposes a conscious selection of language means.

136

The following sentence from D ickens A C hristm as C arol illu st

rates w ith w hat skill the au th o r com bines elevated words and phrases
and common colloquial ones in order to achieve the desired im pact on
the reader it being the com bination of the supernatural and the
ordinary.
B ut the wisdom of our ancestors is in the sim ile; and m y un
hallow ed hands shall not disturb it, or the C ountrys done for.
The elevated ancestors, simile, unhallowed, disturb (in the now obsolete
m eaning of tear to pieces) are p u t alongside the colloquial contraction
the C ountry's (the country is) and the colloquial done for.
T his device is a very subtle one and not alw ays discernible even to
an experienced literary critic, to say nothing of the rank-and-file read
er. The difficulty lies first of all in the in ab ility of the inexperienced
reader to perceive the incongruity of the com ponent p arts of the utterance.
Byron often uses bathos, for exam ple,
They grieved for those who perished w ith the cutter
A n d also for the biscuit-casks and b u tte r.
The copulative conjunction and as well as the adverb also suggest the
hom ogeneity of the concepts those who perished and biscuit-casks and
butter. The people who perished are placed on the same level as the
biscuits and b u tte r lost a t the same tim e. This arrangem ent m ay lead
to at least tw o'inferences:
1) for the survivors the loss of food was as tragic as the loss of friends
who perished in the shipwreck;
2) the loss of food was even more disastrous, hence the elevated
grieved . . . for food.
It m ust be born in m ind, however, th a t this in terp retatio n of the
subtle sty listic device em ployed here is prom pted by purely linguistic
analysis; the verbs to grieve and to perish, which are elevated in conno
tatio n , are more appropriate when used to refer to peopleand are
out of place when used to refer to food. The every-day-life cares and
worries overshadow' the grief for the dead, or a t least are p u t on the same
level. The verb to grieve, when used in reference to both the people who
perished and the food which was lost, weakens, as it were, the effect of
the first and strengthens the effect of the second.
The im plications and inferences drawn from a detailed and m etic
ulous analysis of language m eans and sty listic devices can draw addi
tional inform ation from the com m unication. This kind of im plied m eaning
is derived not directly from the words but from a much finer analysis
called s u p r a l i n e a r or s n n r c. s e g m e n t a l .
A lm ost of .e same kind ar, the following lines, also from Byron:
L et us have wine and worrten, m irth and laughter,
Sermons and soda-water the day after.
Again we have incongruity of concepts caused by the heterogeneity
of the conventionally paired classes of things in the first line and the
alliterated unconventional pair in the second line. It needs no proof
137

th at the worfls sermons*and soda-water are used m etonym ically here

signifying fejfentance and sickness correspondingly. The decodejd
form of th is utterance w ill thus be: Let us now enjoy ourselves in spite
of consequences. B ut the m ost significant item in the linguistic analysis
here w ill, of course, be the identical formal structure of the pairs 1. wine
and women-, 2. mirth and laughter and 3. sermons and soda-water. The sec
ond pair consists of words so closely related th at they m ay be considered
alm ost synonym ous. This affects the last pair and m akes the words
sermons and soda-water sound as if they were as closely related as the words
in the first two pairs. A deeper insight into the au th o rs in ten tio n m ay
lead the reader to in terpret them as a tedious bu t unavoidable rem edy
for the sins com m itted.
Byron especially favours the device of bathos in his Don J u a n .
Almost every stanza contains ordinarily unconnected concepts linked
together by a coordinating conjunction and producing a m ocking ef
fect or a realistic approach to those phenom ena of life which im peratively
demand recognition, no m a tte r how elevated the subject-m atter m ay be.
Here are other illustrations from th is epoch-m aking poem:
heaviness of heart or rather stomach
T heres nought, no doubt, so much the sp irit calms
As rum and true religion
...h is tutor and his spaniel"
who loved philosophy and a good dinner"
I cried upon m y first w ifes dying day
And also when m y second ran away.
We have already pointed out the pecu liarity of the device, th at
it is half linguistic, half logical. B ut the linguistic side becomes es
pecially conspicuous when there is a com bination of sty listically hetero
geneous words and phrases. Indeed, the ju x tap o sitio n of highly lite r
ary norms of expression and words or phrases th at m ust be classed as
non-literary, som etim es low colloquial or even vulgar, will again un
doubtedly produce a sty listic effect, and when decoded, w ill contrib
ute to the content of the utterance, often adding an elem ent of hum our.
Thus, for instance, the following from Som erset M augham s The H our
before D awn:
W ill you oblige me by keeping your trap shut, darling? he
reto rted .
The device is frequently presented in the structural model which
we shall call heterogeneous enum eration (see p. 216).

B. INTERACTION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEXICAL MEANING

W ords in context, as has been pointed out, m ay acquire a d d itio n
al lexical m eanings not fixed in dictionaries, w hat we have called c o n
t e x t u a l m e a n i n g s . The la tte r m ay som etim es dev iate from the
138

dictionary m eaning to such a degree th at the new m eaning even becomes

the opposite of the prim ary m eaning, as, for exam ple, w ith the word
sophisticated (see p. 121). This is especially the case when we deal w ith
transferred meanings.
W hat is known in linguistics as t r a n s f e r r e d m e a n i n g
is p ractically the in terrelation between two types of lexical meaning:
dictionary and contextual. The contextual m eaning w ill alw ays depend
on the dictionary (logical) m eaning to a greater or lesser extent. W hen
the deviation from the acknowledged m eaning is carried to a degree th a t
it causes an unexpected turn in the recognized logical m eanings, we
register a sty listic device.
The transferred m eaning of a word m ay be fixed in dictionaries as a
result of long and frequent use of the word other than in its prim ary
m eaning. In this case we register a derivative m eaning of the word.' The
term transferred points to the process of form ation of the derivative
m eaning. Hence the term transferred should be used, to our m ind, as a
lexicographical term signifying diachronically the developm ent of the se
m an tic stru ctu re of the word. In th is case we do not perceh e two m eanings.
W hen, however, we perceive two m eanings of a word sim ultaneously,
w'e are confronted w ith a sty listic device in which the two m eanings in
teract
1. INTERACTION OF PRIMARY DICTIONARY AND CONTEXTUALLY
IMPOSED MEANINGS
T h ejm teractio n or interplay between the prim ary dictionary m eaning
(the m eaning which is registered in the language code as an easily recog
nized sign for an ab stract notion designating a certain phenom enon or
object) an ^ a m eanihg which is imposed on the word_by a m icro-context
m ay be m aintained"almigThTTerenHTines. (Jne line is when the author
identifies two objects which have nothing in common, but in which he
subjectively sees a function, or a propertv, or a feature, or a quality
th at m ay m ake the reader perceive these two objects as identical. An
o th er line is when the author finds it possible to su b stitu te one object for
another on the grounds th at there is some kind of interdependence or
interrelatio n between the two corresponding objects. A third line is when a
certain property or q u ality of an object is used in an opposite or contra
dictory sense.
The sty listic device based on the principle of identification of twro
objects is called a m e t a p h o r . Th^ SD based on the principle of
su b stitu tio n of one object for another is called m e t o n y m y and the
SD based on contrary concepts is called i r o n y .
Let us now proceed w ith a detailed analysis of the ontology, structure
and functions of these sty listic devices.
Metaphor
The term m etap h o r, as the etym ology of the word reveals, m eans
transference of some q u ality from one object to another. From the tim es
of ancient Greek and Rom an rhfetoric, the term has been known to denote
(

139

 ( Ul f
the transference of m eaning from one word to another. It is still widely
used to designate the process in which a word acquires a derivative m ean
ing. Q u in tilian rem arks: It is due to the m etaphor th a t each thin^
seems to have its nam e in language. I^anguage as a \yhole has been figu
ra tiv e ly defined as a dictionary of faded m etap h o r^
Thus by transference of m eaning the words grasp, get and see come to
have the derivative m eaning of understand. When these words are used
w ith th a t m eaning we can only register the derivative m eaning existing
in th e sem antic structures of the words. Though the derivative m eaning
is m etaphorical in origin, there is no sty listic effect because the prim ary
m eaning is no longer felt.
A m etaphor becomes a sty listic device when two different phenom ena
(things, events, ideas, actions) are sim ultaneously brought to fflia d -b y
the im position of some or all of the inherent properties of one object on
the otherw tffirfQ iy nature is i ^ rived"oT"th~ese~Tfepert1es7~SuHranJmposition gen erali^T esults wherTThe^creator oT~thtnrretaphor finds in the
two corresponding objects certain features which to his eye have some
thing in common.
" d J \r
The idea th a t m etaphor is based on sim ilarity or affinity of two (cor
responding) objects or notions is, as I understand it, erroneous. The two
objects are identified and the fact th at a common feature is pointed to
and m ade prom inent does not m ake them sim ilar. The notion of sim ilarity
can be carried on ad absurdum, for exam ple, anim als and hum an beings
move, breathe, eat, etc. but if one of these features, i.e. m ovem ent,
breathing, in pointed to in anim als and a t the same tim e in hum an beings,
th e two objects will not necessarily cause the notion of affinity.
Id entification should not be equated to resem blance. Thus in the
following m etaphor:
'
'
Dear Nature is the kindest Mother1 still (Byron) the notion Mother
arouses in the m ind the actions of nursing, weaning, caring for, etc.,
whereas the notion Nature does not. There is no true sim ilarity , but there
is a kind of identification. Therefore it is b etter to define metaphor as
the power of realizing two lexical meanings simultaneously.
Due to this power m etaphor is one of the m ost potent m eans of creat
ing images. An image is a sensory perception of an abstract notion a lre a -<
dy existing in the m ind. C onsequently, to create an image m eans to bring
a phenom enon from the highly abstract to the essentially concrete. Thus
the exam ple given ab ovew here the two concepts At other and N ature are
brought together in the interplay of their m eanings, brings up the image
of Nature m aterialized into but not likened to the image of Mother.
\Tbe identification is m ost Qlearly observe^, when the m etaphor is
em bodied eith er in an a ttrib u tiv e word, as in pearly 'teeth, voiceless sounds,
or in a ^predicative w oiibcdfffbination, as in the exam ple w ith N ature
and Mother.
B ut the id en tification of different m ovem ents will not be so easily
perceived because there is no explanatory unit. Let us look a t this sen
tence:
In the slan tin g beams th a t streamed through the open window
the dust danced and was golden. (. W ilde)
140

The m ovem ent of dust particles seem to the eye of the w riter to be
legular an d orderly like the m ovem ents in dancing. W hat happens prac
tically is th at our m ind runs in two parallel lines: th e ab stra ct and the
concrete, i.e. m ovem ent {of any Kind) and dancing (a definite kind).
Som etim es the process of identification can hardly be decoded. Here
is a m etaphor em bodied in an adverb:
The leaves fell sorrowfully. to
The m ovem ent o f" fa 11ing leaves is probably identified w ith the
m ovem ent of a hum an being experiencing some kind of distresspeople
swing their bodies or heads to and fro when in th is state of m ind. One
can hardly perceive any sim ilarity in the two kinds of m ovem ents which
are by the force of the w rite rs im agination identified.
G enerally speaking, one feature out of the m u ltitu d e of features of
an object found in common w ith a feature of another object will not pro
duce resem blance. This idea is worded best of all in W ordsw orths famous
lines:
To find affinities in objects in which no brotherhood exists to
passive m in d s.
H ere is a recognition p f the unlirriited power of the poet in finding comnion features in heterogenous objects.
M etaphorization can also be described as an a tte m p t to be precise,
as J Widdleton M urry thinks. B ut this precision is of an em otional and
aesthetic character and not logical. This is w hat M iddleton M urry w'rites:
T ry to be precise and you are bound to be m etaphorical; you
sim ply cannot helg establishing affinities between all the provin
ces of the anim ate arid inanim ate w orld 1

tA . < exqp-*

M etaphors, like all sty listic devices, can be classified according to

th eir degree of unexpectedness. Thus m etaphors whi :h ^ r e absolutely
unexpected, i.e. are quite unpredictable, are called ' g e n u i n e m eta
phors. Those which are com m only used in speech and th erefore are some
tim es even fixed in dictionaries as expressing m eans of language are t r i t e
m etaphors, or d e a d m etaphors. Their p red ic tab ility therefore is ap p a r
ent. Genuine m etaphors are regarded as belonging to language-'n-action,
i.e. speech m etaphors; trite m etaphors belong to the language-as-asystem , i.e. language proper, and are usually fixed in dictionaries as
units of the language.
V. V. V inogradov states:
...a m etaphor, if it is not a cliche, ts an act of establishing an
individual world outlook, it is an act of subjective isolation...
Therefore a word m etaphor is narrow , subjectively enclosed, ...it
imposes on the reader a subjective view of the object or phenome
non and its sem antic ties. 2
1 Op. cit., p. 83.
2 . . . ., 1945, . 89.

141

The exam ples given above m ay serve as illu stra tio n s of genuine m et
aphors. Here are some exam ples of m etaphors th a t are considered trite;
They are tim e-worn and well rubbed into the language: ' rxxq of hope,
floods of tears, a storm of indignation, a flig h t of fancy, a gleam of
m irth , a shadow of a sm ile and the like.
The interaction of the logical dictionary m eaning and the logical
contextual m eaning assumes different forms. Som etim es this interaction
is perceived as a deliberate interplay of the tw o m eanings. In this case
each of the m eanings preserves its relativ e independence. Som etim es,
however, the m etaphoric use of a word begins to affect the source m ean
ing, i.e. the m eaning from which the m etaphor is derived, w ith the
result th a t the target m eaning, th at is, the m etaphor itself, takes the
upper hand and m ay even oust the source m eaning. In this case we speak
of dead m etaphors.
In such words as to m elt (aw ay), as in these m isgivings gradually
melted away, we can still recognize rem nants of the original m eaning
and in spite of the fact th a t the m eaning to van ish, to disappear is
already fixed in dictionaries as one of the d eriv ativ e m eanings, the p ri
m ary m eaning still m akes itself felt.
T rite m etaphors are som etim es injected wTith new vigour, i.e. their
prim ary m eaning is re-established alongside th e new (derivative) m ean
ing. This is done by supplying the central im age created by the m eta
phor w ith ad d itio n al words bearing some reference to the m ain word.
For exam ple: Mr. Pickw ick bottled up his vengeance and corked it down.
The verb to bottle up is explained in dictionaries as follows: to keep in
check (Penguin D ictionary); to conceal, to restrain, repress (Cas
sells New English D ictionary). The m etaphor in the word can hardly be
felt. B ut it is revived by the direct m eaning of the verb to cork down. This
context refreshes the alm ost dead m etaphor a n d gives it a second life.
Such m etaphors are called s u s t a i n e d o r p r o l o n g e d . Here is
another exam ple of a sustained m etaphor:
Mr. D om beys cup of satisfaction w as so fu ll at this m om ent,
however, th a t he felt he could afford a drop or two of its contents, even
to sprinkle on the dust in the by-path of his little daughter. (Dick
ens, Dombey and Son)
We m ay call the principal m etaphor the central image of the sustained
m etaphor and the other words which bear reference to the central im
age contributory images. Thus in the exam ple given the word cup (of
satisfaction) being a trite m etaphor is revived by the following contrib
utory images: fu ll, drop, contents, sprinkle. I t is interesting to note th a t
the words conveying both the central image (the cup) and the contributory
images are used in two senses sim ultaneously: direct and indirect. The
second plane of utterance is m aintained by the key wordsatisfaction. It
is this word th a t helps us to decipher the idea behind the sustained m et
aphor.
Sometim es, however, the central image is not given, bu t the string
of words all bearing upon some im plied central point of reference are
so associated w ith each other th at the reader is bound to create the re
142

quired image in his m ind. Let us lake the following sentence from Shake
speare:
I have no spur to prick the sides of m y in te n t. The words spur, to
p rick, the sides in their interrelation will inevitably create the image
of a steed, w ith which the speakers intent is identified.
The same is to be seen in the following lines from S helleys Cloud:
In a cavern under is fettered the thunder,
It struggles and howls a t fits.

H ere the central image th at of a captive beast is suggested by the

co n trib u to ry imagesfettered, struggles and howls.
The m etaphor is often defined as a compressed sim ile. B ut this de
fin itio n lacks precision. M oreover, it is m isleading, inasm uch as the m et
aphor aim s at identifying the objects, w'hile the sim ile aim s at find
ing some point of resem blance by keeping the objects ap art. T hat is why
these tw'o sty listic devices are viewed as belonging to two different groups
of SDs. They are different in their linguistic nature.
True, the degree of identification of objects or phenom ena in a m eta
phor varies according to its sy n tactic function in the sentence and to
the part of speech in which it is em bodied.
Indeed, in the sentence Expression is the dress of th o u g h t w'e can
hard ly see any process of identification between the concepts expression
and dress whereas in the lines
Yet Tim e, who changes all, had altered him
In soul and aspect as in age: years steal
Fire from the m ind as vigour from the lim b;
And Lifes enchanted cup bu t sparkles near the brim.
(Byron, Childe H arold)
The m etaphors steal, fire, cup, brim em bodied in verbs and nouns not
used predicatively can be regarded as fully identified w ith the concepts
they aim at producing.
G enuine m etaphors are m ostly to be found in poetry and em otive
prose. T rite m etaphors are generally used as expressive m eans in new spa
per articles, in oratorical style and even in scientific language. The use
of trite m etaphors should not be regarded as a draw back of style. They
help the wTiter to enliven his work and even m ake the m eaning more
concrete.
There is constant interaction between genuine and trite m etaphors.
Genuine m etaphors, if they are good and can stand the test of tim e,
m ay, through frequent repetition, become trite and consequently easily
predictable. T rite m etaphors, as has been shown, m ay regain their fresh
ness through the process of prolongation of the m etaphor.
M etaphors m ay be sustained not only on the basis of a trite m eta
phor. The in itial m etaphor may be genuine and m ay also be developed
through a num ber of contributory images so th a t the whole of the u tte
rance becomes one sustained m etaphor. A skilfully w ritten exam ple of
such a m etaphor is to be found in Shakespeares Sonnet No. 24.
143

Mine eye h ath p la y 'd the painter and hath ste ll'd
Thy b ea u ty s form in table of m y heart;
My body is the fram e wherein tis held,
And perspective it is best p a in te rs art.
For through the p ainter m ust you see his skill,
To find where your true image pictured lies;
W hich in m y bosom s shop is hanging still,
T h at h ath his windows glazed w ith thine eyes.
Now see w hat good turns eyes for eyes have done;
M ine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me
Are w indows to m y breast, w here-through the sun
D elights to peep, to gaze therein on thee;
Y et eyes th is cunning w ant to grace their art,
They draw but w hat they see, know not the heart.
The central image The eye the p ain te r is developed through a
num ber of co n trib u to ry images: to draw, to stell, table, frame, hanging
(picture) and th e like.
In conclusion it would be of interest to show the results of the in ter
action between th e dictionary and contextual meanings.
The constant use of a m etaphor gradually leads to the breaking up of
the p rim ary m eaning. The m etaphoric use of the word begins to affect
the dictionary m eaning, adding to it fresh connotations or shades of
m eaning. B ut th is influence, however strong it m ay be, w ill never reach
the degree where the dictionary m eaning entirely disappears. If it did,
we should have no sty listic device. It is a law of stylistics th at in q sty
listic device th e s ta b ility of the dictionary m eaning is alw ays retained,
no m atter how great the influence of the contextual m eaning m ay be.
Metonymy
M e t o n y m y is based on a different type of relation between
the dictionary and contextual m eanings, a relatio n based not on iden
tificatio n , b u t on some kind of association connecting the two concepts
which these m eanings represent.
Thus, the word crown m ay stand for king or queen, cup or glass
for the drink in con tain s, woolsack for the C hancellor of the E xcheq
uer who1sits on it, or the position and dignity of the Lord C hancellor,
e.g., Here the noble lord inclined his knee to the IWoolsack." (from H an
sard).
H ere also the in terrelation .hetweerL-the d ictionary and contextual
m eanings should s tand out d e a rly and conspicuously. O nly then can
w e-state-b h at-a-sty lT stiC device is usecL_Otherwise we m ust tu rn our
m ind to lexicological problem s, i.e. to the w ays and means by which
new words and m eanings are coined. The exam ples of m etonym y given
above are trad itio n al. In fact they are derivative logical m eanings and
therefore fixed in dictionaries. However, when such m eanings are includ
ed in dictionaries, there is usually a label fig (figurative use). This
show's th a t the new m eaning has not replaced the prim ary one, b u t, as
it w'ere, co-exists w ith it.
144

Still the new m eaning has become so common, th at it is easily pre

dictable and therefore does not bear any additional inform ation, which
is an indispensable condition for an SD.
Here are some more w idely used m etonym ical m eanings, some of
which are already fixed in dictionaries w ithout the label fig: the press
for (the personnel connected w ith) a p rin tin g or publishing establish
m e n t', or for the new spaper and periodical literatu re w hich is printed
by the p rin tin g press. The bench is used as a generic term fos, m agis
tra te s and ju stices. A hand is used for a worker, the cradle stands for
infancy, earliest stages, place of origin, and the grave stands for death.
M etonym y used in language-in-action, i.e. c o n t e x t u a l m e t o n
y m y , is genuine, metonym y and reveals a quite unexpected su b stitu
tion of o n e -word for another, or one concept for ano th er,jo n the ground
of some strong impression produced~fjy . chance feature of the thing, f6r
exam ple:
Miss T oxs hand trem bled as she slipped it through Mr. D om beys
arm , and felt herself escorted up the steps, preceded by a cocked hat
and a Babylonian collar. (Dickens)
A cocked h at and a B abylonian co llar stand for the wearer of the
articles in question. One can hardly adm it th a t there is a special character
izing function in such a su b stitu tio n . The function of these exam ples
of genuine m etonym y is more likely to point out the insignificance of
the w earer rath er th an his im portance, for his personality is reduced to
his extern ally Conspicuous features, the h at and red collar.
H ere is another exam ple of genuine m etonym y:
Then they came in. Two of them , a m an w ith long fair mous
taches and a silent dark m an ... D efinitely, the moustache and I had
no th ing.in com m on. (Doris Lessing, R etreat to Innocence)
Again we have a feature of a m an which catches the eye, in this case
his facial appearance: the m oustache stands for the m an him self. The
function of the m etonym y here is to indicate th at the speaker knows
nothing of the m an in question, m oreover, there is a definite im plica
tion th a t th is is the first tim e the speaker has seen him .
Here is another exam ple of the same kind:
There was som ething so very agreeable in being so intim ate
w ith such a waistcoat; in being on such off-hand term s so soon w ith
such a pair of whiskers th a t Tom was uncom m only pleased w ith him
self. (Dickens, H ard Tim es)
In these two cases of genuine m etonym y a broader context than th at
required by a m etaphor is necessary in order to decipher the true m ean
ing of the sty listic device. In both cases it is necessary to understand
the w ords in th eir proper m eanings first. O nly then is it possible to grasp
the m eton>m y.
In the following exam ple the m etonym y 'grape' also requires a broad
context:
And th is is stronger than the strongest grape
Could e er express in its expanded shane (Bvron)
145

M etonymy and m etaphor differ also in the way they are deciphered.
In the process of disclosing the m eaning im plied in a m etaphor, one image'
excludes the other, th at is, the m etaphor 'lam p' in the The .sky lam p of
the n ig h t, when deciphered, means the moon, and though there is a
definite interplay of m eanings, we perceive only one object, the moon.
This is not the case w ith m etonym y. M etonym y, w hile presenting one
object to our m ind, does not exclude the other In the exam ple given above
the moustache and the man himself are both perceived by the mind.
M any attem p ts have been m ade to pin-point the types of rela tion which
m etonym y is based on. Among them the following are most common:
1. A concrete thing used instead of an ab stract notion. In this case
the thing becomes a symbol of the notion, as in
Tlie camp, the p u lp it and the law
For rich m ens sons are free. (Shelley)

2. The container instead of the thing contained:

The hull applauded.
*
3. The relatio n of proxim ity, as in:
The round game table was boisterous and happy. (Dickens)
4. The m aterial instead of the thing m ade of it, as in:
The marble spoke.
5. The instrum ent which the doer uses in perform ing the action
instead of the action or the doer'him self, as in:
W ell, Mr. W eller, says the g en tlm n, y ou're a very good whip,
and can do w hat you like w ith your horses, we know. (Dickens)
As the sword is the worst argum ent th at can be used, so should
it be th e last. (Byron)
The list is in no way complete. There are m any other types of rela
tions which may serve as a basis for m etonym y.
It m ust also be noted th at m etonym y, being a m eans of building up
im agery, generally concerns concrete objects, w hich are generalized.
The process of generalization is easily carried out w ith the help of the
definite article. Therefore instances of m etonym y are very often used
w ith the definite article, or w ith no article at all, as in There was per
fect sym pathy between P u lp it and Pew, where P u lp it stands for the
clergym an and Pew for the congregation.
This is probably due to the fact that any definition of a word m ay
be taken for m etonym y, inasmuch as it shows a property or an essen
tial q u ality of the concept, thus disclosing a kind of relation between
the thing as a whole and a feature of it which may be regarded as part
of it.
Irony
I n i l ' s a sty listic de\ ice also based on the sim ultaneous realh ^.
zafion of two logical m eaningsdictionary and contextual, but the two
""meanings stand in 'o p p osition to each other. For example:

Mo

It m ust be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country w ithout

a p en n y .in ones pocket.
The italicized word acquires a m eaning quite the opposite to its
prim ary dictionary m eaning, th at is, unpleasant, 'not delightful.
The word containing the irony is strongly m arked by intonation. It
has em phatic stress and is generally supplied w ith a special m elody
design, unless the context itself renders th is intonation pattern unnec
essary, as in the following excerpt from D ickens's Posthum ous Papers
of the Pickw ick Club:
Never m ind, said the stranger, cu ttin g the address very short,
said enoughno more; sm art chap th at cabm anhandled his fives
well; but if I d been your friend in the green jem m y dam n me
punch his head , Cod I w ould pigs w hisperpiem an too, no
gam m on.
"This coherent speech was in teriu p ted by the entrance of the
R ochester coachm an, to announce th a t...
The word coherent, which describes Mr. Jin g le s speech, is incon
sistent w ith the actual utterance, and therefore becomes self-contra
dictory. In no other device where w7e can observe.the interplay of the
dictionary and contextual m eanings, is the la tte r so fluctuating, sug
gestive, and dependent on the environm ent as is iron}. T hat is why there
are p ractically no cases of irony in language-as-a-system .
Irony m us^ not be confused w ith hum our, although they have very
m uch inxomjno"n. H um our alwa_Y.causv Ja u g h le r W hat is funny m ust
come as_a sudden clash of the positive and the negative. In th is respect
irony can-be_likened-to h u m o u r^B u t th eJu n ctio n of irony is noi confined
to producing a hum orous effect. In a sentence like How clever of you!
where, due to the intonation pattern , the word clever conveys a sense
opposite to its literal signification, the irony does not cause a ludicrous
effect. It rath er expresses a feeling of irritatio n , displeasure, pity or
regret. A word used ironically m ay som etim es express very subtle, a l
most im percep tib le nuances oFm eaningTas the word l i k e in the follow ing
lines from Beppo by Byron.
X L V II
I like a parliamentary debate.
P articu larly when tis not too late.
i.

X L V III
I like the taxes, w hen th e y re not too m any;
I like a seacoal fire, when not too dear;
I like a beefsteak, too, as well as any;
H ave no objection to a pot of beer;
I like the weather, when it is not rainy,
T hat is I like two months of every year.
147

And so God save the R egent, Church and King!

W hich m eans th at I like all and everything.
In the first line the word like gives only a slight h in t of irony.
P arliam en tary debates are usually long. The word d ebate itself sug
gests a lengthy discussion, therefore the word lik e here should be taken
w ith some reservation. In other words, a h in t of the interplay between
p ositive and negative begins w ith the first like.
The second use of the word Tike is definitely ironical. No one would
be expected to like taxes. It is so obvious th at no context is necessary
to decode the true m eaning of Tike. The a ttrib u tiv e phrase when th ey re
not too m an y strengthens the irony.
Then Byron uses the word Tike in its literal m eaning. L ike in com
b inations w ith seacoal fire and a beef-steak and w ith Two m onths
of every y ear m ain tain s its literal m eaning, although in the phrase I
like the w eather the notion is very general. B ut the last line again
shows th at the word T ike is used w ith an ironic touch, m eaning to lik e
and to put up w ith sim ultaneously.
R ichard A ltick says, The effect of.irony lies in th e iriking disparity_between w hat is sajd and._what i s j n e a n t iJ T iis s trik ing d isp arity
is jjc h i p vcfPfTirough the in tentional interplay of two m eanings, which
are in opposition_jo each other. "
A nother im p o rtan t observation m ust be borne in m ind when analys
ing the linguistic n ature of irony. _Ir.onv is generally ngcd to_ convey
_a negative m eaning. Therefore only positive concepts m ay De used in
THeir lo g ic g m ic tro n ary m eaning, fn tbe'exanTf?Tes' cfuotedabove, irony
is em bodied in such words as delightful, clever, coherent, T ike.
The contextual m ean in g alw ays conveys the negation of the positive
'concepts em bodied in the dictionary~ m eanrng.~
2. INTERACTION OF PRIM A RY AND DERIVATIVE LOGICAL MEANINGS

Stylistic Devices Based on Pol /semantic Effect, Zeugma and Pun

As is known, the word is, of all language units, the m ost sensitive
to change; its m eaning gradually develops and as a result of this develop
m ent new m eanings appear alongside the p rim ary one. It is norm al for
alm ost every word to acquire derivative m eanings; som etim es the pri
m ary m eaning has to m ake way for quite a new m eaning which ousts
it com pletely.
In dealing w ith the problem of nonce-words and new m eanings we
have already stated the fact th a t in the developm ent of language u n its
we are co nstantly facing the opposing concepts of perm anence and ephemerality . Some .eanings are characterized by th eir perm anence, others,
like nonce- -ords and contextual m eanings, are generally* ephem eral,
i.e. they appear in some contexts and vanish leaving no trace in the
vocabulary of the language. P rim ary and the derivative m eanings are char1 Preface to Critical Reading. N. Y., 1950, p. 270.

148

actcrized b y th e irre la tive. ^tahi 1i t \ and therefore are fixed in diction

aries, thus co n stitu tin g the sem antic structure of the word.
The problem of polysemy is one of the vexed ic. lions of lexicology.
It is som etim es im possible to draw a line of dem arcation between a de
riv ativ e m eaning of a polysem antic word and a separate word, i.e. a word
th at has broken its sem antic ties w ith the head word and has become a
hom onym to the word it w'as derived from.
{Jalysemy is^a category of lexicefogy a n d as such b ek m g s-tajan g u ag eas-'a-system. act ual everyday speech polysCrrry'^vanishes unless iFT
deljbcfately retain ed for certain sty listic purposes. A context th a t doe; produce any p artic u la r sty listic effect generally m aterialize
but one definite m eaning.
However, when a word begins to m anifest a n in te rp la y , between th
prim ary and one of the d eriv a tiv e m eaningsw e. are.ag ain co n fro n ted with
an SD.
fcet-Hs analyse the following exam ple from Sqnnet 90 by Shakespeare 1
where the key-words are in ten tio n ally m ade to deveal two or m ore m ean
ings.
Then hate me if thou w ilt, if ever now.
Now' w'hile the world is bent m y deeds to cross.
The word h a te m aterializes several m eanings in this context. The
prim ary m eaning of the w ord, according to the Shorter Oxford English
D ictionary, is to hold in very strong dislike. T his basic m eaning has
brought to life some derivative m eanings w hich, though having very
m uch in common, still show' some nuances, special shades of m eaning
which enrich the sem antic structure of the word. They are: 1) to d etest;
2) to bear m alice to ; 3) the opposite of to love (which in itself is not so
em otionally coloured as in the definition of the prim ary m eaning: it
alm ost am ounts to being indifferent); 4) to feel a repulsive a ttitu d e .
O ther dictionaries fix such senses as 5) to wish to sh u n (H eritage D ic
tionary); 6) to' feel aversion for (Random House D ictionary); 7) to
bear ill-will ag a in st; 8) to desire evil to (persons)(W ylds D ictionary).
There is a peculiar interplay among derivative m eanings of the w'ord
h a te in Sonnet 90 where the lam entation of the poet about the calam
ities which had befallen him results in his pleading w ith his beloved
not to leave him in despair. The whole of the context forcibly suggests
th at there is a certam -in teraction of th e following m eanings: 2) to bear
m alice (suggested by the line jo in w ith the spite of fo rtu n e)4) to
feel a repulsive a ttitu d e 5) to wish to shun (suggested by the line
if thou w ilt leave me do not leave me la s t and also com pared w ith
loss of thee)7) and 8) to desire evil and bear ill-w'ill ag ain st (suggest
ed by the line jo in with the spite of fortune and so shall I taste the \ e r \
worst of fortunes m ig h t). All these derivative m eanings in tt v^axe
w ith the prim ary one and th is netw ork of m eanings constitutes a styJistic device w'hich m ay be called the p o l y s e m a n t i c e f f e c t .

1 See: Galperin I . R . An Essay in S ty listic Analysis. ., 1968, p. 25.

149

-'f.

This SD can._be delecied--offkyj\lj1en a rather large sp a n of utterance,

up to a whole tex t, ^ s u b je c te d ,t o a ^e'rupulous^aficf min.ute analysis.
It also requires some skill "in evafuating the T&tio of the prim ary and
derivative m eanings in the given environm ent, the ratio being dependent
on the general content of the te x t.
The word b e n t in the second line of the sonnet does not present any
difficulty in decoding its m eaning. The m etaphorical m eaning of the
w ord is ap p aren t. A co ntextual m eaning is imposed on the word. The
m icro-context is the key to decode its m eaning.
The past p articip le of the verb to bend together pyjth, the verb to
cross builds a m etaphor the m eaning of which is
hinder*, to block,
to interfere.
.< _y*.
. ,
The p o h sem antic effect is a very subtle and som etim es Jiardly percepTible styl istlc device. But it is impossible to, underrate its significance
fn d i^ an e rin g ; T R ePaesthetically pragm atic function of the utterance.
^ U A lik e ^ h i< T d e v ic e r fhe two SDsZeugm a and P un lie, as it were,
on the* urfacepoF ffie'feYt.
Z e m a is the use of a word in the same gram m atical b u t dif
ferent sem antic relations to two adjacerif w ords in the context, the se
m an tic lelatio n s being, on the one han d , literal, and, on the other, tran s
erred.
D ora, p lu n g in g a t once into privileged intim acy and into the middle
of the room." (B. Shaw)
To plunge' (into the m iddle of a room) m aterializes the m eaning
to rush in to or enter im petuously. Here it is used in its concrete, p ri
m ary, literal m eaning; in to plunge into privileged in tim ac y the word
plunge is used in its d erivative m eaning.
The same can be said of the use of the verbs s ta in and lose in the
following lines from P opes The R ape of the Lock;
...W hether the Nym ph
Shall stain her Honour or her new Brocade
O r lose her H eart or necklace at a B all.
IlT h is sty listic device is p articu larly favoured in English em otive
prose and in p o etry ^ T h e revival of the original m eanings of words m ust
be regarded as an essential q u ality of any work in the belles-lettres
style. A good w riter alw ays keeps the chief m eanings of words from fad
ing away, provided th e m eanings are w orth being kept fresh and vig
orous.
Zeugma is a strong and effective device to m ain tain the p u rity of
the prim ary m eaning when the two m eanings clash. By m aking the
twro m eanings conspicuous in this p artic u la r w ay, each of them stands
out clearly. The stru ctu re of zeugma m ay present variations from the
p attern s given above. Thus in the sentence:
...A nd M ays m other always stood on her g entility, and D o ts
m other never stood on anything but her active little feet." (Dickens)
150

The word stood is used twice. This structural varian t of zeugma,

though produc ng some slight difference in m eaning, does not violate
the principle of th e sty listic device. It still m akes the reader realize
th a t the two m eanings of the word stan d are sim ultaneously expressed,
one prim ary a n g j h ^ t h e ; ^ r i v a W

'
T h e Yp fr n isr another s t^ is iic device based on the interaction
of two well-known m eanings of a word or phrase. I t is difficult to draw
a hard and fast distinction between zeugma and the pun. The only re
liable distinguishing feature is a structural one: zeugma is the reali
zatio n of two m eanings w ith the help of a verb which is m ade to refer
,to different subjects or objects (direct or indirect). The pun is more
*'-iridef)endent. There need not necessarily be a word in the sentence to
which the pun-word refers.j ThTS'dees-jaot-'meaTrTTrowerer'T,. at the pun
Is entirely free. Like any other sty listic device, it m ust TtepencT'on a
context. B ut the context m ay be of a mofe expanded character, some
tim es even as large as a whole work of em otive prose. Thus the title of
one of Oscar W ildes plays, The Im portance of Being Earnest" has a
pun in it, inasm uch as the nam e of the hero and the adjective m eaning
seriously-m inded are both present in our m ind.
Here is another exam ple of a pun where a larger context for its real
ization is used:
Bow to the board, said Bum ble. O liver brushed away two or
three tears th a t were lingering in his eyes; and seeing no board but
the table, fortunately bowed to th a t. (Dickens)
In fact, the hum orous effect is caused by the interplay not of two
m eanings of one word, but of two words. B oard as a group of offi
cials w ith functions of ad m in istratio n and m anagem ent ancT board as
a piece of fu rn itu re (a table) have become two distinct w ords.1
P uns are often used in riddles and jokes, for exam ple, in th is riddle:
W hat is the difference between a schoolm aster and an engine-driver?
(One train s the mlmT and the other m inds the train.)
Devices of sim ultaneously realizing the various m eanings of words,
which are of a more subtle character th an those em bodied in puns and
zeugm a, are to be found in poetry and poetical descriptions and in spec
ulatio n s in em otive prose. M en-of-letters are especially sensitive to the
nuances of m eaning em bodied in alm ost every common word, and to m ake
these words live w ith their m ultifarious sem antic aspects is the task of
a good w riter. Those who can do it easily are said to have talent.
In th is respect it is w orth subjecting to sty listic analysis words o rd i
narily perceived in their prim ary m eaning bu t which in poetic diction
begin to acquire some additional, contextual m eaning. This la tte r m ean
ing som etimes overshadow s the prim ary m eaning and it m ay, in the
course of tim e, cease to denote the prim ary m eaning, th e d e ri\e d m ean
ing establishing itself as the most recognizable one. B ut to deal w ith

1 Wr shall here disregard the difference between polysemy and homonymy, it

being irrelevant, more or less, for sty listic purposes.
151

these cases m eans to leave the dom ain of sty listics and find ourselves in
the dom ain of lexicology.
To illu strate the interplay of prim ary and contextual m eanings,
let us take a few exam ples from poetical works:
In R obert F ro sts poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
the poet, taking delight in w atching the snow fall on the woods, con
cludes his poem in the following words:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
B ut I have promises to keep,
And m iles to go before I sleep,
And m iles to go before I sleep.
The word prom ises here is m ade to signify two concepts, viz. 1) a
previous engagem ent to be fulfilled and 2) moral or legal obligation.
The plural form of the word as well as the whole context of the poem
are convincing proof th a t the second of the two m eanings is the m ain
one, in spite of the fact th a t in com bination w ith the verb to keep (to
keep a promise) the first m eaning is m ore predictable.
Here is another exam ple.
In Shakespearian Sonnet 29 there are the following lines:
W hen in disgrace w ith fortune and m ens eyes,
I all alone beweep m y o utcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven w ith m y bootless cries
And th in k upon myself and curse m y fate.
A lm ost every word here m ay be interpreted in different senses: some
tim es the differences are hardly perceptible, som etim es they are ob
viously an tagonistic to the prim ary m eaning.
B ut we shall confine our analysis only to the m eaning of the word
cries which signifies both prayer and lam entation. These two m eanings
are suggested by the relation of the word cries to trouble deaf heav
e n . B ut the word cries suggests not only prayer and lam entation, it
also im plies v iolent prayer and lam entation as if in deep despair,
alm ost w ith tears (see the word beweep in the second line of the p art
of the sonnet quoted)-.
It is very im portant to be able to follow the au th o rs in ten tio n from
h is m anner of expressing nuances of m eaning which are poten tially
present in th e sem antic structure of existing words. Those who fail
to define the suggested m eanings of poetic words will never understand
poetry because they are unable to decode the poetic language.
In various functional styles of language the capacity of a word to
signify several m eanings sim ultaneously m anifests itself in different
degrees. In scientific prose it alm ost equals zero. In poetic style th is
is an essential property.
To observe the fluctuations of m eanings in the belles-lettres style
is not only im portant for a better understanding of the purpose or inten
tion of the w riter, but also profitable to a linguistic scholar engaged in
the study of sem antic changes in words.
152

3. INTERACTION OF LOGICAL AND EMOTIVE MEANINGS

The general notions concerning em otiveness have been set out in
P a rt I, 6"M eaning from a S ty listic P o in t of View (p. 57). However,
some add itio n al inform ation is necessary for a b etter understanding of
how logical and em otive m eanings interact.
It m ust be_Heai4y-TfflderstuuTt that th e Togical and-The em otive are
buflt fnto our m inds and they are present t here in different degrees when
we^thmk_of v a rious phenoTfiena of oective reality. The ratio o f fhe two
elem ents is leflecterTIh the composi(ioa-if verbah-charns, ueT ifl expres
sion.1
D ifferent em otional elem ents m ay appear in the utterance depending
on its character and pragm atic aspect.
The em otional elem ents of the language have a tendency to wear
out and are constantly replaced by new ones (see exam ples on p. 101 the
ter or a
word dramatic and others). A lm ost any word may quire a g
lesser degree of emotiyeness. This is due to the fact th a t, a sB . Tomashevsky has it, The word is not only understood, it is also experienced.1
There are words The function of which is_to arouse em otion in the
reader or listener. In such wo r d s~emo tiv engss-preyails_o ver intellectual
ty T T h ere are"aTs6~woFcIsl FTwhich fhe logical m eaning is alm ost entirely
"ousted. H ow ever, these words express feelings which have passed through
our m ind and therefore they have acquired an intellectual em bodim ent.
In o ther words, em otiveness in language is a category of our m inds and,
'consequently, our feelings are expressed !| indirectly, th at
is.Tfy passing through our m inds. TFis Therefore n a tu ra l th a t some em o
tiv e words have become the recognized sym bols of em otions; the em o
tions are, as it were, not expressed directly but referred to.
The sensory stage of cognition of objective reality is not only
the basis of ab stract thinking, it also accom panies it, bringing the
elem ents ot sensory stim uli into the process of conceptual thinking,
and thus defining the sensory grounds of the concepts as well as the
com bination of sensory images and logical concepts in a single act of
th in k in g .3
W e shall try to distinguish between elem ents of language which have
em otive m eaning in their sem antic stru ctu re and those which acquire
this m eaning in the context under the influence of a sty listic device or
some o th er more expressive m eans in the utterance.
A g reater or lesser volum e of em otiveness m ay be distinguished in
words w hich have em gtive m eaning in th eir sem antic structure. TJie most
highly em otive words are words charged w ith em otive meaning" to the
ex ten t fh at the logical m e a n in g can hardly be registered. These axe_in-~
~terjecIIons an d -all kinds of excla'm atio n s^N ex f come epithets, in which
-------------------------------------------------------------------

fc * .

i j

'

1 . . . ., 1961, . 17.
2 . . , 69, 2 1951.
3 . .
. , ., 1967,
. 57.

153

w e-ca iLobserve a kind of parity between em otive and logical m eaning.

T hirdly come e p ithets , jaL the oxyrpnrnnir type, in which the lo g ic a l,
m eaning preva iiilo v e r the em otive hijf cyhenTth^ernotTye is the result of
ffie clash between the logical and illogical."

Interjections and Exclamatory Words

, ljt

' *, c '>'

J . n t e r j e c t i o n s are words w e use when we express our feelings

strongly and which m ay be said to exist in language- a s con\ entional
sym bols of hum an em otions. T he ro le
m te t ^ flin n s ,in ereatipg pmo-_
tiv e m eanings has a lre a d y .b e e jk ^ a lt w ith (see p. 67). It rem ains onl> to
show bow the logical and em otive m eanings interact and to ascertain
their general functions and spheres of application.
,
In trad itio n al gram m ars the interjection is regarded as a p art of
speech, alongside o th er parts of speech, as the noun, adjective, verb,
etc. B ut there is another view which regards the interjection not as a
p a rt of speech but as a sentence. There is m uch to uphold this view. In! word taken separately is d ep riv e d 6f any intonation w hich w ill
suggest a com plete idea, th at is, a pronouncem ent; whereas a wordinterjection w'ill alw ays m anifest a definite a ttitu d e on the part of the
speaker tow ards the problem and therefore "have intonation. The pauses
between words are very brief, som etim es hardly perceptible, whereas
the pause between the interjection and the words th a t follow is so long,
so significant th a t it m ay be equalled to the pauses between sentences.
However, a closer investigation into the n ature and functions of the
interjection proves beyond doubt th a t the interjection is not a sentences
it is a word w ith strong em otive m eaning. T hepausqs..that fram e in ter
jections can be accounted ior by the sudden transfer from th e em otion
al to th e logical or vice versa. F urther, the definite intonation w ith which
interjections are pronounced depends on the sense of the preceding or
following sentence. In terjections have, no sentence-4neatUng-iL tak ea-in dependentlv.
L et us take"som e exam ples of the use of interjections:
Oh, where are >ou going to, all you Big Steam ers? (Kipling)
The interjection oh by itself m ay express various feelings, such as
regret, despair, d sappointm ent, sorrow', woe, surprise, astonishm ent,
lam entation, en treaty and m any others. Here it precedes a definite sen
tence and m ust be regarded as a part of it. It denotes the ardent tone of
the question. The Oh here m ay be regarded, to use the term inology of theo
ry of inform ation, as a signal indicating em otional tension in the folkwving utterance.
The sam e m ay be observed in the use of the interjection oh in the
following sentence from A C hristm as C arol by Dickens:
Ohl but he was a tight-fisted hand a t the grind-stone, Scrooge.
The Oh here is a signal indicating the strength of the em otions of
the author, w hich are further revealed in a num ber of devices, m ostly
151

syn tactical, like elliptical sentences, tautological subjects, etc. The

m eaning of the interjection Oh in the sentence can again be pinned down
only from th e sem antic analysis of the sentence following it and then it
becomes clear th a t the em otion to be understood is one of disgust or scorn.
So interjections, as it were, rad iate the em otional elem ent over the
whole of the utterance, provided, of course, th at they precede it.
It is interesting to note in passing how often interjections are used
by Shakespeare in his sonnets. Most of them serve as signals for the sestet
which is the sem antic or/and em otional counterpart to the octave,1
or exam ple:
l0 , carve n o t w ith th y h o rn s ...
0 , L et me, tru e in love, b u t . . .
'0 , therefore, love be of t h y s e lf ...
'0 , let my books be, then, t h e . ..
, then vouchsafe m e ...
0 , absence, what a to r m e n t...
0 , no! th y love, though m u c h ...
0 , fearful m e d ita tio n ...
0 , if I say, you lo o k ...
'0 , lest your tru e l o \ e . . .
0 , know, sweet lo v e ...
A h, do not, when m y h e a r t ...

(Sonnet 19)
(21)
(22)
(23)
(32)
(39)
(61)
(65)
(71)
(72)
(76)
(96)'2

In terjectio n s can be divided into

a m i dTgr i v a t L v A '
Prim ary in terjections are genera lly fie v o ia o f any logical m eaning. D e
riv ativ e mferjecTiohs .may reiain^^nQ diyuyti logical m eaning. though_
th is is alw ays suppressed by the \o lu r
^ ie m o tjve m ean in g . 01 Ah\
Bcih\ Pouhl Goshl Hushl Alctsl are prim ary interjections, though some of
them once had logical m eaning. H eavens', good gracious!, dear m e!,
God!, Come on!, Look here!, dear!, by the Lord!, God knows!,
Bless m e!, H um bug! and m any others of this kind are not interjec
tions as such; a b etter nam e for them would be exclam atory words and
w ord-com binations generally used as interjections, i.e. th eir function is
( nf the interjection.
It m ust be noted here that_som e a djectives, nouns and adverbs can
also take on the function.of in terjections for exam ple, such wordsTSS"
terrible7, awfutTTgrenf!, wonderful!, splendid!, fine!, m an!, boy! iV ith
proper in to n ation and w ith a n .adequate pause such as follows an inter
jection, these words m ay_acquire a strong em otional colouring and are
equalTrTforce to jn te rje d iq n s ^ J n th a t case we m ay say_that sem e adjec
tives and adverbs have acquired an additional gram m atical m eaning,
th a t of the interjection.
M en-of-letters, most of whom possess an acute feeling for words, their
m eaning, sound, possibilities, potential energy, etc., are alw ays aware
of the em otional charge of words in a context. An instance of such acute
1 See the analysis of the sonnet,
2 It is interesting to note here th a t
in his sonnets (0, A h, alack (alas),
A h five times, alack ~ tv ice. and

pp. 259260.
out of the four interjections used by Shakespeare
au) the interjection 0 is used forty-eight times,
ay tv ice.

awareness is th e following excerpt from Somerset M augham s The R a

zors Edge where in a conversation the w'ord God is used in tw'o differ
ent senses: first in its logical m eaning and then w ith the gram m atical
m eaning of th e interjection:
Perhaps he wont. I t s a long arduous road h es startin g to tra v
el, but it m ay be th a t a t the end of it h ell find w'hat h es seeking.
W h ats th a t?
H asn t it occurred to you? I t seems to me th a t in w'hat he said
to you he indicated it p re tty plainly. God."
God! she cried. B ut it w'as an exclam ation of incredulous surprise.
O ur use of the same word, but in such a different sense, had a comic
effect, so th a t we w>ere obliged to laugh. B ut Isabel im m ediately
grew serious again and I felt in her w'hole a ttitu d e som ething
like fear.
The change in the sense of the word god is indicated by a m ark of
exclam ation, by the use of the word cried and the w'ords exclam ation
of incredulous surprise w hich are ways of conveying in w riting the sense
carried in the spoken language by the intonation.
Interjections alw ays attach a definite m odal nuance to the utterance.
B ut it is im possible to define exactly the shade of m eaning contained
in a given interjection, though the context m ay suggest one. Here are
some of the m eanings th a t can be expressed by interjections: joy, delight,
ad m iratio n , approval, disbelief, astonishm ent, fright, regret, woe,
dissatisfaction, ennui (boredom), sadness, blam e, reproach, protest,
horror, irony, sarcasm , meanness, self-assurance, despair, disgust and
m any others.
In teresting attem p ts have been m ade to specify the em otions ex
pressed by some of the interjections. H ere are a few lines from B yrons
Don J u a n w'hich m ay serve as an illustration:
All present life is but an interjection
An O h or A h of joy or m isery,
Or a Ha! h a! or B ah! a yawn or Pooh!
Of which perhaps the la tte r is m ost true.
A strong im pression is m ade by a poem by M. T svetayeva
in which three R ussian interjections , and are subjected
to a poetically exquisite subtle analysis from the point of view of the
m eanings these three interjections m ay express.
Interjectio n s, like o theiLjm rd s in the English vocabulary , bear_f.atu re l which m ark them as b o o k i s h. n e u~Tr a j oT 11 q u i ci I.
'T h u s 'oil, afTTBah ITRe are n eutral; alas,~egad (euphemism for
G od), Lo, H ark are bookish
gosh, why, well are colloquial. But as
w ith other words in any stratu m of vocabulary, the border-line between
the three groups is broad and flexible. Som etim es therefore a given in
terjection m ay be considered as bookish by one scholar and as neutral
1 The last two are som ewhat archaic and used m ostly in poetical language. Egad is
also archaic.

156

by another, or colloquial by one and neutral by another. However, the

difference between colloquial and bookish w ill alw ays be clear enough.
In ev alu atin g the a ttitu d e of a w riter to the things, ideas, events and
phenom ena he is dealing w ith, the a b ility of the reader to pin-point the
em otional elem ent becomes of param ount im portance. I t is som etim es
hidden under seemingly im partial description or n arrativ e, and only
an insignificant lexical u n it, or the syntactical design of an utterance,
w'ill reveal the au th o rs m ood. B ut interjections, as has been said, are
direct signals th a t the u tterance is em otionally charged, and insufficient
a tte n tio n on the p art of the literary critic to the use of interjections will
deprive him of a tru er understanding of the w riters aim s.
The Epithet
From th e strongest m eans of displaying the w rite r's or speakers
em otional a ttitu d e to his com m unication, we now pass to a w'eaker but
still forceful m eanst h e e p i t h e t . The ep ith et is subtle and del
icate in character. It is not so direct as the interjection. Some people
even consider th at it can create an atm osphere of objective evaluation,
w'hereas it actu ally conveys the subjective a ttitu d e of the w riter, show7ing th at he is p artial in one w7ay or another.
The ep ith et is a sty listic device based on the interplay of em otive
and logical m eaning in an a ttrib u tiv e w7ord, phrase or even sentence
used to characterize an object and pointing ou t to the reader, and fre
quen tly im posing on him , some of the properties or features,gf fhe o b
ject w7ith the aim of g iving an individual perception and ev alu atio n of
these features or-properties. T he ep ith et is m arkedly subjective and ev al
uativ e. The logical a ttrib u te is purely objective, non-evaluating.
It is descriptive and indicates an inherent or prom inent feature of the
thing or phenom enon in question.
Thus, in green meadow7s, 'white snow7, round ta b le , blue skies,
pale com plexion, lofty m o u n tain s and the like, the adjectives are
m ore logical a ttrib u te s than epithets. They indicate those q u alities of the
objects which m ay be regarded as generally recognized. But in 'w ild
w'ind, loud ocean, remorseless dash of billow s, 'formidable w aves*
heart-burning sm ile, the adjectives do not point to inherent qualities of
the objects described. They are subjectively evaluative.
The ep ith et m akes a strong im pact on the reader, so much so, th a t he
um vittingly begins to see and evaluate things as the w riter w ants him to.
Indeed, in such w ord-com binations as destructive charm s, 'glorious
sig h t, encouraging sm ile, the interrelation between logical and em otive
m eanings m ay be said to m anifest itself in different degrees. The w'ord
destructive has retained its logical m eaning to a considerable ex ten t, but
at the same tim e an experienced reader cannot help perceiving the em o
tive m eaning of the word which in this com bination w ill signify con
quering, irresistible, dangerous. The logical m eaning of the word glo
rious in com bination w ith the w7ord sight, has alm ost entirely faded out.
Glorious is already fixed in dictionaries as a w7ord having an em otive
V/

'

m eaning alongside its p rim ary, logical m eaning. As to the word encouraging
(in the com bination encouraging sm ile) it is half epithet and half log.
ical attrib u te . In fact, it is som etim es difficult to draw a clear line of
dem arcation between epithet and logical attrib u te . In some passages
the logical a ttrib u te becomes so strongly enveloped in the em otional as
pect of the u tterance th at it begins to rad iate em otiveness, though by
n atu re it is logically descriptive. Take, for exam ple, the adjectives green,
w hite, blue, lofty (but somehow not round) in the com binations given above.
In a su itable context they m ay all have a definite em otional.im pact on
the reader. This is probably explained by the fact th a t the q u ality most
ch aracteristic of the given object is attach ed to it, thus strengthening
the .q u ality.
E p ith e ts m av he classified .from different standpoints: s e m a n i i and s t r u c t r a I. Sem antically, ep ith ets m ay be divided into
two groups: those a s s o c i a t e d w ith the noun following and those
u n a s s o c i a t e d w ith it.
Associated_e p ithets are those which point to a feature u'hich is essentiaT to th e objects they describe: the idea expressed in the epithet is to
a certain ex ten t irMefent in the concept of the object. The associated
ep ith et im m ediately refers the m ind to the concept in question due to
some actual q u ality of the object it is attached to, for instance, dark
forest, dreary m idnight, careful attention , unw earying research.', in
defatigable assiduity', fantastic terrors', e t c . '
Unassociated epit^hete^ar^attributes .used to characterize the object by
adding a feature not inherent m I f f I.e. a feature w'hich m ay be so unex
pected as to strike the reader by its novelty, as, for instance, heart
burning sm ile, bootless cries, sullen e a rth , voiceless sands, etc. The
adjectives here do not indicate any property inherent in the objects in
question. T hey impose, as it were, a property on them w'hich is fittin g
only in the given circum stances. It m ay seem strange, unusual or even
accidental.
In any com bination of words it is very im portant to observe to w hat
degree the com ponents of the com bination are linked. W hen they are so
closely linked th at the com ponent p arts become inseparable, w e note
th a t wre -are dealing w'ith a set expression. W hen the link between the
com ponent p arts is com paratively close, we say there is a stable wordcom bination, and when wfe can su b stitu te any word of the same g ram m ati
cal category for the one given, we note w hat is called a free com bination
of W'ords.
W ith regard to ep ithets, this division becomes of param ount im por
tance, inasm uch as the ep ith et is a powerful m eans for m aking the desired
im pact on the reader, and therefore its ties w ith the noun are generally
contextual. However, there are com binations in W'hich the ties between
the a ttrib u te and the noun defined are very close, and the whole com bina
tio n is viewed as a linguistic whole. C om binations of this type appear as
a result of the frequent use of certain definite ep ith ets w ith definite
nouns. They become stable w ord-com binations. E xam ples are: bright
face, valuable connections, sweet sm ile, unearthly b ea u ty , pitch dark
ness, thirsty deserts, deep feeling, classic exam ple, powerful influ
158

ence, sweet perfum e and the like. The pred ictab ility of such ep ith ets is
very great.
The function of ep ithets of this k ind rem ains basically the same:
to show the ev alu atin g , subjective a ttitu d e of the w riter tow ards the
thing described. B ut for th is purpose the author "does not create his own,
new unexpected epithets; he uses ones th at have become trad itio n al, and
m ay be term ed language ep ith ets as they belong to the language-as-a
system . Thus ep ith ets m ay be divided into l a n g u a g e e p i t h e t s
and s p e e c h e p i t h e t s . E xam ples of speech ep ith ets are: slavish
knees, 'sleepless b ay .
The process of strengthening the connection between the ep ith et and
the noun m ay som etim es go so far as to build a specific unit which does
not lose its poetic flavour. Such ep ith ets are called f i x e d and are m ost
ly used in ballads and folk songs. H ere are some exam ple- of fixed epi
thets: true love, dark forest, sweet S ir, green wood, g <od ship,
brave cav aliers.
S tru ctu rally , epithets can be viewed from the angle t)f i) composi
tion and b) d istrib u tio n .
From the p oint of view of their c o m p o s i t i o n a l structure
ep ith ets m ay be divided into s i m p l e , m p n d. p h r a s e
and s e n t e n c e e p i t h e t s . Sim pTeTpithets are ordinary adjectives.
E xam ples have been given above. Com pound ep ith ets are b u ilt like com
pound adjectives. Exam ples are:
heart-burning sigh, sylph-like figures, cloud-shapen g ia n t,
. . .curly-headed good-for-nothing,
And mischief-making m onkey from his b irth . (Byron)
The tendency to cram into one language unit as much inform ation
as possible has led to.new com positional m odels for epithets which we
shall call p h r a s e e~p i t h e t s. A phrase and even a w'hole sentence
m ay become an epith et if the m ain formal requirem ent of the epithet
is m ain tain ed , viz. its a ttrib u tiv e use. B ut unlike sim ple and compound
epithets, which m ay have pre- or post-position, phrase ep ith ets are ahvays
placed before th e nouns they refer to.
An in teresting observation in th is respect has been m ade by O. S. Akhm anova. The syntactical com binations are, as it were, more ex plicit,
descriptive, elaborate; the lexical are m ore of an indication, a h in t or a
clue to some previously com m unicated or generally known fact, as if
one should say: You know w hat I m ean and all I have to do now' is to
point it out to you in this concise and fam iliar w ay. 1
T his inner sem antic qu ality of the a ttrib u tiv e relations in lexical
com binations, as they are called by O. S. A khm anova, is, perhaps, m ost
strikin g in the phrase and sentence epithets. Here the concise w ay
is m ost effectively used.
H ere are some exam ples of phrase epithets:

1 Akhmanova 0 . S. Lexical and Syntactical Collocations in Con tern] o r English.

"Z eitschnft ffir A nglistik und Amerik tnisiik". At.. 1958. Heft I, ]>. 19

159

It is this do-it-yourself, go-it-alone a ttitu d e th a t has thus far

held back real developm ent of the M iddle E a sts river resources.
(N . Y . T . M agazine, 19 O ct., 1958.)
P ersonally I detest her (G iocondas) smug, mystery-making,
come-hither-but-go-away-again-because-butter-wouldnt-melt-in-mymouth expression. (New Statesman and N ation, Ja n . 5, 1957)
There is a sort
of
Oh-what-a-wicked-world-this-is-and-howI-wish-I-could-do-something-to-make-it-better-and-nobler'
expression
about M ontm orency th a t has been known to bring the tears into
the eyes of pious old ladies and gentlem en. (Jerom e K. Jerom e,
Three Men in a B oat)
F reddie was standing in front of the fireplace w ith a lwell-that'sthe-story-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-iV air th at m ade him a focal
p o in t. (Leslie Ford, Siren in the N ight)
An interesting stru ctu ral detail of phrase and sentence ep ith ets is
th a t they are generally followed by the words expression, air, attitude and
others w hich describe behaviour or facial expression. In other words,
such ep ith ets seem to transcribe into language sym bols a com m unication
usually conveyed by non-linguistic means.
A nother stru ctu ral feature of such phrase epithets is th a t after the
nouns they refer to, there often comes a subordinate a ttrib u tiv e clause
beginning w ith that. This a ttrib u tiv e clause, as it were, serves the p u r
pose of decoding the effect of the com m unication. It m ust be noted th at
phrase ep ith ets are alw ays hyphenated, thus pointing to the tem porary
stru ctu re of the com pound word.
These two stru ctural features have predeterm ined the functioning
of phrase ep ith ets. P ractically any phrase or sentence w'hich deals w ith
th e psychological state of a person m ay serve as an epithet. The phrases
and sentences transform ed into ep ith ets lose their independence and as
sume a new' q u ality which is revealed both in the intonation pattern
(th at of a n attrib u te) and graphically (by being hyphenated).
A nother stru ctu ral variety of the ep ith et is the one which we shall
term r e v e r s e d . The reversed ep ith et is composed of two nouns linked
in an o/-phrase. The subjective, evaluating, em otional elem ent is em bod
ied not in the noun a ttrib u te bu t in the noun stru ctu rally described, for
exam ple: the shadow of a sm ile; a devil of a job (Maugham); ...he
sm iled b rig h tly , neatly, efficiently, a m ilitary abbreviation of a sm ile
(Graham Green); A devil of a sea rolls in th at bay (Byron); A little
F lyin g D utchm an of a cab (Galsworthy); ...a dog of a fellow' (Dickens);
her brute of a brother (G alsworthy); ...a long nightshirt of a m ackin
to sh ... (Cronin)
It w'ill be observed th at such ep ith ets are m etaphorical. The noun
to be assessed is contained in the o/-phrase and the noun it qualifies is a
m etaphor (shadow, devil, m ilitary abbreviation, F lyin g Dutchman, dog).
The gram m atical aspect, viz. a ttrib u tiv e relatio n between the members
of the com bination shows th a t the SD here is an epithet.
It has been acknowledged th a t it is som etim es difficult to draw' a line
of dem arcation between a ttrib u tiv e and predicative relations. Some a t

160

trib u tes carry so m uch inform ation th a t they m ay ju stly be considered

bearers of predicativeness. This is p a rtic u la rly true of the ep ith et, espec
ially genuine or speech ep ith ets, w hich belong to language-in-action
and not to language-as-a-system . These ep ith ets are predicative in es
sence, though not in form.
On the o th er han d , some w ord-com binations where we have predic
ativ e relatio n s convey so strongly the em otional assessm ent of the
object spoken of, th at in spite of their formal, stru ctu ral design, the
predicatives can be classed as e p ith ets. Here are some exam ples:
'Fools th at they are; Wicked as he is.'
The inverted position of the p red icativ es fools and w icked as well
as the intensifying th at they a re a n d as he is m ark this border-line
variety of epith et.
Some language ep ith ets, in spite of opposition on the p art of ortho
dox language p u rists, establish them selves in standard E nglish as con
ventional sym bols of assessment for a given period. To these belong words
we have already spoken of like terrible, aw ful, massive, top, dramatic,
m ighty, crucial (see p. 66).
From th e point of view of th e d i s t r i b u t i o n of the epithets
in the sentence, the first model to be pointed out is th e f b i r j n g o f
e p i t h e t s . In his depiction of New Y ork, O. H enry gives the iollow ing
strin g of epithets:
Such was th e background of the wonderful, cruel, enchanting,
bewildering, fa ta l, great c ity ;
O ther exam ples are: a p lu m p , rosy-cheeked, wholesome apple
faced young woman (Dickens); a well-matched, fairly-balanced giveand-take couple. (Dickens)
As in any enum eration, the strin g of ep ith ets gives a m any-sided
depiction of the object. B ut in th is m any-sidedness there is alw ays a
suggestion of an ascending order of em otive elem ents. This can easily
be observed in the in to nation p a tte rn of a string of ep ithets. There is
generally an ascending scale w hich culm inates in th e last ep ith et; if
the last ep ith et is a language e p ith et (great), or not an ep ith et (young),
the cu lm inating p o in t is the last genuine ep ith et. The culm inating point
in th e above exam ples iSH T jafal, apple-faced, and give-and-take.
A nother distrib u tio n al model is the t r a n s f e r r e d e p i t h e t .
Transferred ep ith ets are ordinary logical a ttrib u te s generally describing
the sta te of a hum an being, bu t m ade to refer to an inanim ate object, for
exam ple: sick chamber, sleepless pillow , restless pace, breathless eagerness,
unbreakfasted morning, merry hours, a disapproving finger, Isabel shrugged
an indifferent shoulder.
As m ay be seen, it is the force contributed to the a ttrib u te by its
position, and not by its m eaning, th a t hallow s it into an ep ith et. The
m ain feature of th e ep ith et, th at of em otional assessm ent, is greatly
dim inished in th is m odel; b u t it never quite vanishes. The m eaning of
the logical a ttrib u te s in such com binations acquires a definite em otional
colouring.

4 2376

161

Language ep ith ets as p art of the em otional word-stock of the lan

guage have a tendency to become obsolescent. T hat is the fate of m any
em o tio n al-elem ents in the language. They gradually lose their em otive
charge and are replaced by new ones which, in their turn, will be re
placed by neologisms. Such was the fate of the language ep ith et good-na
tured. In the works of H enry F ielding this ep ith et appears very often, as,
for exam ple, a good-natured hole, good-natured side. The words vast
and vastly were also used as ep ith ets in the works of m en-of-letters of the
18th century, as in vast ra in s, vastly am used.
The problem of the ep ith et is too large and too significant to be fully
\ d ealt w ith in a short chapter. Indeed, it m ay be regarded as the crucial
problem in em otive language and epithets, correspondingly, am ong the
sty listic devices of the language.
I t rem ains only to say th a t the ep ith et is a direct and straightforw ard
way of showing the a u th o rs a ttitu d e tow ards the things described, where
as o ther sty listic devices even im age-bearing ones, will reveal the a u
th o rs ev alu atio n of th e o b je c to n ly indirectly. T hat is probably w'hy those
au thors who wish to show a seeming im p a rtia lity and o b jectiv ity in
depicting th eir heroes and describing events use few epithets. R ealistic
au thors use ep ith ets m uch m ore sparingly, as statistica l data have shown.
R oughly speaking, R om anticism , on the other hand, m ay to some extent
be characterized by its abundant use of epithets. In illu stra tio n we have
taken a t random a few lines from a stanza in B yrons C hilde H a ro ld s
Pilgrim age:
The horrid crags, by toppling convent, crowned,
The cork-trees hoar th a t clothe the shaggy steep,
The m ountain-m oss by scorching Skies im brow nd,
The sunken glen, whose sunless shrubs m ust weep,
The orange tin ts th a t gild the greenest bough...
c_ I

IC-* * -

c l I.

Ltjf r ott_ is a com bination of 1> woijds_(mostly_ an adjective

j n dVTioun or aiOrTverb w ith an adjective) in which t he m eanings of the
jtWo a s h jje in g -o p p o s ite- in sense.-forlexam ple: ^
/f iJ/. ^
low skyscraper, sweet sorrow , 'nice rascal, pleasantly ugly
face, horribly b ea u tifu l, a deafening silence.
If the prim ary m eaning of the qualifying word changes or weakens,
the sty listic effect of oxym oron is lost. This is the case w ith w'hat were
once oxym oronic com binations, for exam ple, aw fully nice, aw fully
g la d , terribly sorry and the like, where the words aw fully and terribly
have lost th eir prim ary logical m eaning and 3re now used w ith em otive
m eaning o n ly, as intensifiers. - essenft^jot oxym oron consists in the
arv m eaning of the ad jective"or adverb to resist for
gofhp tim e th e overw helm ing power of semantic--change w hich words
unde go on.
b in a tiom -T he forcible com bination of non-com binative
w o rd sseem s to develop w hat m ay be called a kind of centrifugal force
162

which keeps them a p a rt, in contrast to ordinary w ord-com binations where

centripetal force is in action.
We have already pointed o u t th at there are different ra tio s of em otivelogical relatio n s in ep ith ets. In some of them the logical m eaning is
hard ly perceived, in others the two m eanings co-exist. In oxym oron the
logical m eaning holds fast because there is no tru e w ord-com bination.
only the ju x tap o sitio n of two non-com binative words.
B ut still we m ay notice a peculiar change in the m eaning of the q u ali
fying word. It assum es a new life in oxym oron, definitely indicative of the
assessing tendency in the w riters m ind.
L et us tak e the following exam ple from O. H enrys story The D uel
in which one of th e heroes th u s describes his a ttitu d e tow ards New York.
I despise its very vastness and power. It has the poorest m illion
aires, th e littlest great men, the haughtiest beggars th e plainest
beauties, th e lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest pleasures of any town
I ever saw .
Even th e su p erlative degree of the adjectives fails to extinguish the
p rim ary m eaning of the adjectives: poor, little, haughty, etc. B ut by some
inner law of w ord-com binations they also show the a ttitu d e of the speaker,
reinforced, of course, by the preceding sentence: I despise its very v ast
ness and power.
It will not come am iss to express th is language phenom enon in term s
of the theory of inform ation, which states th a t though the general ten
dency of entropy is to enlarge, the encoding tendency in the language,
which strives for an organized system of language sym bols, reduces
entropy. Perhaps, th is is due to the organizing sp irit of the language,
i.e. the striv in g after a system (which in its very essence is an organized
whole) th a t oxym oronic groups, if repeated frequently, lose th eir sty lis tic
q u ality and gradually fall into the group of acknowledged w ord-com bina
tions which consist of an intensifier and the concept intensified.
I
Oxym oron has one m ain stru ctu ral m o d el:a d j e c t i v e - n o u n ,
j It is in th is stru c tural m odel th a t the resistance of the two com ponent
p a rts to fusion into one u n it m a n ife stsitse lF m o st strongly, tn the a rfirg -r tr -f- n-d-re-crt t v e mo ' el T he ch an g eo rfn ean in g " in the first elernerTfrtheadverbTTs m ore ra p id resistance to the unifying process not be ng
T c rstro n g .

~
c *9
~~ Som etim es the tendency to use oxym oron is the m ark of certain lite r
ary trends and tastes. T here are poets in search of new shades of m eaning
in existing words, who m ake a point of joining together words of co n tra
dictory m eaning. Two ordinary words m ay become alm ost new, w rites
V. V. V inogradov, if they are joined for the first tim e or used in a n unex
pected context 1
Thus, peopled desert, 'populous
are oxym oronic.

so litu d e, 'proud h u m ility

1 . . ., 1938, . 1, . 121 122.

**

163

Som etim es, however, the tendency to com bine the uncom binative is
revealed in stru ctu ra lly different forms, not in adjective-noun models.
Gorki criticizes h is ow n sentence: I suffered then from the fanaticism of
knowledge, and called it a blunder. He points ou t th a t the acquiring
of knowledge is not blind as fanaticism is. The syntactic relations here
are not oxym oronic. B ut com binations of this kind can be likened to
oxym oron. The same can be said of the following lines from B yrons
C hilde H aro ld s P ilgrim age
F air Greece! sad relic of departed W orth!
Im m ortal, though no more, though fallen, great!"
O xym oronic relations in the italicized p a rt can scarcely be felt, but
still the contrary signification is clearly perceived. Such structures m ay
be looked upon as interm ediate between oxvm oron and an tith esis (see
p. 222).
4. INTERACTION OF LOGICAL ANIj> NOMINAL MEANINGS|)

'b in
1A . ' Ku*T

A C iz - '~~~ccKiC '' OV-CaA/U- i

i^ A n to tiom a s i a | _ ^ ^
,, .., *

W e have already pointed out the pecu lari les of nom inal m eaning.
The interplay between the logical and nom inal m eanings of a word is called
antonomasia.
As in other sty listic devices based on the in ter
action of lexical m eanings, the two kinds of m eanings m ust be realized
in the word sim ultaneously. If only one m eaning is m aterialized in the
co n text, there is no sty listic device, as in hooligan, boycott and other
exam ples given earlier. Here are some exam ples of genuine antonom asia.
Among the herd of journals w hich are published in the S tates,
there are some, the reader scarcely need be told, of character and
credit. From personal intercourse w ith accom plished gentlem en
connected w ith publications of this class, 1 have derived both pleas
ure and p ro fit. B ut the name of these is Few, and of the o th er
l egion, and the influence of the good is powerless to counteract the
m ortal poison of the bad. (Dickens)
The use of the word name m ade the au th o r w rite the words Few ,
and Legion w ith capital letters. It is very im portant to note th a t th is
device is m ain ly realized in the w ritte n language, because generally
cap ital letters are the only signals to denote the presence of the sty listic
device. The sam e can also be observed in the following exam ple from
B yrons Don J u a n :
Society is now' one polished horde,
F orm d of two m ighty tribes, the Bores and Bored."
In these twTo exam ples of the use of antonom asia the nom inal m eaning
is hard ly perceived, the logical m eaning of the words few, legion, bores,
bored being too strong. But there is another point th a t should be m entioned.
Most proper nam es are b u ilt on some law 'of analogy. M any of them
end in -son (as Johnson) or -er (Fletcher). We easily recognize such words

,4

<SOC

as S m ith , W hite, Brown, Green, Fowler and others as proper nam es. B ut
such nam es as M iss Blue-Eyes (C arter Brown) or Scrooge or M r. Zero m ay
be c a l l e d e h or t e l l i n g nam es. They give inform ation to the
reader ab out the bearer of the nam e. In this connection it is interesting to
recall the well-known rem ark by Karl M arx, who said th a t we do not
know an y th in g about a m an if we only know th a t he is called Jacob. The
nom inal m eaning is not intended to give any inform ation about the per
son. It only serves the purpose of identification. Proper nam es, i.e. the
w ords w ith nom inal m eaning, can etym ologically, in the m ajority of
cases, be traced to some q u ality , property or tra it of a person, or to his
occupation. B ut th is etym ological m eaning m ay be forgotten and the
word be understood as a proper nam e and nothing else. It is not so w ith
antonom asia. A ntonom asia is intended to point out the leading, m ost char
acteristic feature of a person or event, at the sam e tim e pinning this
leading tra it as a proper nam e to the person or event concerned. In fact,
antonom asia is a revival of the in itia l stage in nam ing individuals.
A ntonom asia m ay be likened to the ep ith et in essence if not in form.
It categorizes the person and th u s sim ultaneously in dicates both the
general and th e p articular.
A ntonom asia is a much favoured device in the belles-lettres style.
In an article W h ats in a nam e?, Mr. R . D avis says: In deciding on
nam es for his characters, an au th o r has an unfair advantage over other
parents. H e knows so much b etter how his child w ill tu rn ou t. W hen Saul
Bellow nam ed Augie M arch, he h a d already conceived, a hero restlessly
on the move, m arching ahead w ith august ideas of him self. H enry Jam es
saw in Adam Verver of The G olden Bowl a self-made A m erican, sprung
from the soil, full of verve and zest for life. In choosing nam es like Murdsto n e, Scrooge, and G radgrind, D ickens was being even m ore ob
vious. 1
In R ussian lite ratu re th is device is em ployed by m any of our classic
w riters. It w ill suffice to m ention such nam es as Vralman, M olchalin,
Korobochka and Sibakevich to illu s tra te th is efficient device for character
izing literary heroes, a device w hich is now falling out of use. These R us
sian nam es are also coined on th e analogy of generally acknowledged
m odels for proper nam es, w ith en d in g s in -man, -in, -vich.
An interesting literary device to em phasize token nam es is em ployed
by Byron in his Don J u a n w here th e nam e is followed or preceded by
an explanatory rem ark, as in the follow ing:
Sir Jo h n Pottledeep, the m ighty drinker."
There was the sage M iss Reading.
A nd the two fair co-heiresses Giltbedding.
There was Dick D ubious, the metaphysician.
Who loved philosophy and a good dinner;
A ngle, the soi-disant m athem atician;
S ir H enry Silvercup, th e great race-winner."

1 The New York Times Book Review, N ov. 13, 1966.

165

The explan ato ry words, as it were, revive the logical m eaning of the
proper nam es, th u s m aking more apparent the interplay of logical and
nom inal m eanings.
T he use of antonom asia is now not confined to the belles-lettres style.
I t is often found in publicistic style, th a t is, in m agazine and news
paper articles, in essays and also in m ilitary language. The following are
exam ples:
I say this to our A m erican friends. Mr. Facing-Both-W ays does
not get very far in th is w ord. (T h e Times)
I suspect th a t the Noes and D o n 't Knows would far outnum ber the
Yesses." (T h e Spectator)
So far we have dealt w ith a v arie ty of antonom asia in which com
m on words w ith obvious logical m eaning are ,g iv e n nom inal m eaning
w ith o u t losing th eir prim ary, basic significance. B ut antonom asia can
also m ake a word which now has a basic nom inal m eaning acquire a ge
neric signification, thus supplying the wprd w'ith an additional logical
m eaning. The la tte r can only be deciphered if the events connected w ith a
certain place m entioned or w ith a conspicuous feature of a person are
well known. Thus, the word D unkirk now m eans the evacuation of troops
under heavy bom bardm ent before it is too la te , Sedan m eans' a com plete
defeat, Coventry the destruction of a city by air raid s, a quizling now
m eans a tra ito r who aids occupying enem y forces.
The spelling of these words dem onstrates the stages by which proper
nouns acquire new, logical m eanings: some of them are still spelt w ith
capital letters (geographical names), others are already spelt w ith sm all
letters showing th a t a new word w ith a prim ary logical m eaning has al
ready come into existence.
This v ariety of antonom asia is not so w'idely used as a sty listic de
vice, m ost probably due to the n ature of words w ith nom inal m eaning:
they tell very little or even nothing about the bearer of the name.

yCUcUUbtC

C. IN T E N S IF IC A T IO N OF A C E R T A IN F E A T U R E OF A T H IN G
OR P H EN O M EN O N

In order to understand the linguistic n ature of the SDs of th is group

These are
by the definer through a long period of observation
of the object, its functioning, its erow tt^am l its c h a n g e s ^ ^ < * ^
However, no definition can c o m p ris e a ll the inner q u alities of the
object and new com binations of it w ith o ther objects as well; a deeper
pen etratio n into the ontology of the object w ill alw ays reveal some hither-#1/1^

^ t o unknown q u alities and features.

tJ
J
yvPVi
In the th ird group of sty listic devices, which we notv come to, we find
th a t one of the qu alities of the object in question is m ade to sound essen
tial. T his is an en tirely different principle from th a t on w'hich the second

group is based, th a t of interaction between two lexical m eanings sim u lta

neously m aterialized in the context. In th is th ird group the q u ality picked
ou t m ay be seem ingly u nim portant, and it is frequently tran sito ry , but
for a special reason it is elevated to the greatest im portance and m ade into
a tellin g feature.
1
: ec u -* p C ^ r t f
-*>
Sim ile

I jc

I s(y M

Things are best of all learned by simile. V. G. Belinsky

The intensification of some one feature of the concept in question is I

realized in a device called s i tn i I e. O rdinary cpm parison and sim ile \
m ust not be coqfused. They represent two d h e rse processes. Comparison
m eans w eighing two objects belonging to one class of things w ith the
purpose of estab lish in g the degree of their sameness of difference. To use a
sim ile is to characterize one object by bringing it into contact w ith an o th
er object belonging to an entirely different class of things. Com parison
takes into consideration all the properties of the two objects, stressing
th e one th at is com pared. Sim ile excludes all the properties of the two ob
jects except one which is m ade common to them 'j For exam ple, The
boy seems to be as clever cis his mother is ordinary com parison. B oy and
m o th er belong to the same class of objectshum an beingsso this is
not a sim ile b u t ordinary com parison.
B ut in the sentence:
M aidens, like moths, are ever caught by glare (Byron), we have a
sim ile. M aidens and m oths belong to heterogeneous classes of objects
and B yron has found the concept moth to indicate one of the secondary fea
tures of the concept maiden, i.e. being easily lured. Of the two concepts
brought together in the sim ileone characterized (m aidens), and the
oth er characterizing (moths) the feature intensified w ill be m ore in
herent in the la tte r th an in the former. M oreover, the object characterized
is seen in q u ite a new and unexpected light, because the w riter, as it were,
imposes th is feature on it.
L Sim ilcs forcibly set one object against another regardless of the fact
th a t they m ay ,b e com pletely alien to each otherUAnd w ith o u t our being
aw are of it[_the sim ile gives rise to a new understanding of th e object
characterizing as well as of the object characterized!}
The properties of an object m ay be viewed from different angles, for
exam ple, its state, actions, m anners, etc. Accordingly, sim iles m ay be
based on ad jectiv e-attrib u tes, adverb-m odifiers, verb-predicates, etc.
[ Sim iles have form al elem ents in th eir stru ctu re ^ co n n e ctiv e words
such as like,''as, such as, as if, seem. Here are some exam ples of sim iles
taken from various sources and illu stra tin g the variety of structural de
signs of th is sty listic device.
H is m ind w as restless, bu t it wrorked perversely and thoughts
jerked through his brain like the m isfirings of a defective carburettor."
(Maugham)
167

The structure of this sim ile is interesting, for it is sustained. Let us

analyse it. The w ord jerk e d in the m icro-context, i.e. in com bination
w ith thoughts is a m etaphor, which led to the sim ile like the misfirings of a defective ca rb u re tto r where the verb to jerk carries its direct
logical m eaning. So the linking notion is the m ovement jerking which
brings to the au th o rs m ind a resem blance between the working of the
m an s brain and the badly working, i.e. m isfirin g , carburettor. In other
words, it is action th a t is described by means of a sim ile.
A nother exam ple:
It was th at m om ent of the year when the countryside seems to
fa in t from its own loveliness, from the intoxication of its scents
and sounds. (J. G alsw orthy)
T his is an exam ple of a sim ile which is half a m etaphor. If not for the
stru ctural w'ord seems, we would call it a m etaphor. Indeed, if we drop
th e word seems and say, the countryside faints fro m ..., the clue word
fa in t becomes a m etaphor. B ut the word seems keeps ap art the notions
of stillness and fainting. It is a sim ile where the second member the
hum an being is only suggested by m eans of the concept faint.
The sem antic n atu re of the si m ile-form ing elem ents seem and as i f
is such th a t they only rem otely suggest resem blance. Q uite different are
th e connectives like and as. These are more categorical and establish quite
straightforw ardly the analogy between the two objects in question.
Som etim es the sim ile-form ing like is placed at the end of the phrase
alm ost m erging wdth it and becoming half-suffix, for example:
E m ily B arton was very pink, very Dresden-china-shepherdess
like
In sim ple non-figurative language it will assum e the following form:
E m ily B arton was very pink, and looked like a Dresden-chinashepherdess.
Sim iles m ay suggest analogies in the character of actions performed.
In this case th e two members of the stru ctu ra l design of the sim ile will
resem ble each o th er through the actions they perform . Thus:
The L iberals have plunged for en try w ithout considering its
effects, w hile th e Labour leaders like cautious bathers have put a
timorous toe into the water and p rom ptly w ithdrawn it.
The sim le in th is passage from a new spaper article like cautious
b ath ers is based on the sim ultaneous realization of the two m eanings
of th e word plunge. The prim ary m eaning to throw oneself into the w at
e r prom pted th e figurative periphrasis have pu t a tim orous toe into
th e w ater and prom ptly w ithdraw n i t standing for have abstained from
tak in g a c tio n .
In th e English language there is a long list of hackneyed sim iles p oint
ing out the analogy between the various qualities, states or actions of a
hum an being and the anim als supposed to be the bearers of th e given
quality , etc., for example:
168

treacherous as a snake, sty as a fox, busy as a bee, industrious

as an ant, blind as a bat, fa ith fu l as a dog, to im rk like a horse, to
be led like a sheep, to fly like a bird, to swim like a duck, stubborn as
a mule, hungry as a bear, th irsty as a camel, to act like a puppy,
p la yfu l as a kitten , vain (proud) as a peacock, slow as a tortoise and
m any others of the sam e type.
These com binations, however, have ceased to be genuine sim iles and
have become cliches (see p. 177) in which the second com ponent has be
come m erely an adverbial intensifier. Its logical m eaning is only vaguely
perceived.
Periphrasis
P e r i p h r a s i s is a device which, according to W ebsters diction
ary, denotes th e use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter
and plainer form of expression. It is also called c i r c u m l o c u t i o n
due to the round-about or indirect way used to nam e a fam iliar object or
phenom enon. Viewed from the angle of its linguistic n atu re , periphrasis
represents th e renam ing of an object and as such m ay be considered along
w ith a more general group of word designations replacing the direct
nam es of th eir denotata. One and the sam e object m ay be identified in
different ways and accordingly acquire different appelations. Thus, in
different situ atio n s a certain person can be denoted, for instance, as
eith er his benefactor, or th is bore, or the n a rra to r, or the wretched
w itness, etc. These nam es w ill be his only in a short fragm ent of the dis
course, th e criterion of their choice being furnished by the context. Such
nam ing u n its m ay be called secondary, textually-confined designations
and are generally composed of a w ord-com bination.
This device has a long history. It was w idely used in the Bible and in
H om ers Iliad. As a poetic device it was very popular in L atin poetry
(Virgil). Due to this influence it became an im portant feature of epic and
descriptive poetry throughout the M iddle Ages and into the Renaissance.
It is due to th is practice of re-nam ing things th a t periphrasis becam e one
of the most favoured devices in the 17th and 18th centuries giving birth
even to a special trend in lite ratu re in F rance and other countries called
periphrastic. There exists in English a whole battery of phrases which are
still used as periphrastic synonym s (see below) for ordinary denom inations
of things and phenomena.
V. N. Y artseva quotes S. K. W orkm an, an English literatu re scholar
who states th a t the most pervasive elem ent in the aureate styleand the
most v itia tin g was periphrasis. Prof. Y artseva states th a t the use of
periphrasis in th e 16th century w'as in the n atu re of em bellishm ent, thus
ju stify in g th e a ttrib u te aureate, and th at periphrasis became a feature of
a definite literary sty le.1
As a SD, periphrasis aim s at pointing to one of the seem ingly insignif- \
icant or barely noticeable features or properties of the given object, and
1 See: . H.
., 1969, . 89.

169

intensifies this property by nam ing the object by the property. Periphrasis makes the reader perceive the new appellation against the background
of the one ex istin g in the language .ode and the twofold sim ultaneous
perception secures the sty listic effect. At the same tim e periphrasis, like
sim ile, has a certain cognitive function inasm uch as it deepens our know
ledge of the phenomenon described. The essence of the device is th a t it is
decipherable only in context. If a periphrastic locution is understandable
outside the context, it is not a sty listic device but merely a synonym ous
expression. Such easily decipherable periphrases are also called tra d i
tio n al, dictionary or language periphrases. The others are speech perip h ra
ses. Here are some exam ples of well-known dictionary periphrases (pe
rip h rastic synonyms):
the cap and gown (student body); a gentleman o f the long robe
(a lawyer); the fa ir sex (women); m y better h a lf (my wife).
Most periphrastic synonym s are strongly associated w ith the sphere
of their ap p lication and the epoch they w'ere used in. Feudalism , for
exam ple, g a \e birth to a cluster of periphrastic synonym s of the w'ord
k in g , as: the leader o f hosts; the giver o f rings; the protector o f earls; the
victor lord. A play o f swords m eant a b a ttle ; a battle-seat was a sad d le;
a shield bearer was a w arrior.
T rad itio n al, language or dictionary periphrases and the words they
stand for are synonym s by nature, the periphrasis being expressed by a
w ord-com bination. P eriphrasis as a sty listic device is a new, genuine
nom ination of an object, a process which realizes the power of language
to coin new nam es for objects by disclosing some qu ality of the object,
even though it may be tran sito ry , and m aking it alone represent the ob
ject. H ere are some such sty listic periphrases:
I understand you are poor and wish to earn money by nursing
the little boy, my son, who has been so prem aturely deprived of
what can never be replaced. ( D r kens)
The object clause w hat can never be replaced is a periphrasis for
the word mother. The concept is easily understood by the reader w ithin
the given context, the la tte r being the only code which m akes the deci
phering of th e phrase possible. This is sufficiently proved by a sim ple
transform ational operation, viz. taking the phrase out of its context. The
m eaning of w hat can never be replaced used independently will bear no
reference to th e concept mother and m ay be interpreted in many ways.
The periphrasis here expresses a very individual idea of the concept.
H ere is another sty listic periphrasis which the last phrase in the sen
tence deciphers:
And H arold stands upon the place o f skulls.
The grave o f France, the deadly W aterloo. (Byron)
In the following:
The hoarse, dull drum w ould sleep.
And Man be happy yet. (Byron)
170

th e periphrasis can only be understood from a larger context, referring

to the concept war. The hoarse, dull drum is a m etonym ical periph
rasis for war.
In some cases periphrasis is regarded as a dem erit and should have no
place in good, precise w riting. This kind of periphrasis is generally called
c i r c u m l o c u t i o n . Thus R ichard A ltick states th a t one of the
ways of obscuring tru th ...is the use of circum locutions and euphe
misms. 1
A round-about way of speaking about common things som etim es has
an unnecessarily bom bastic, pompous air and consequently is devoid of
any aesthetic value. T hat is why periphrasis has gained the re p u ta tio n of
leading to redundancy of expression. H ere is an exam ple of the excessive
use of periphrasis by such an outstan d in g classic English w riter as
Dickens:
The lam p-lighter made his n ig h tly failure in a ttem p tin g to bright
en up the street w ith gas ( = lit the street lam ps).
In sp ite of th e danger of being called blasphem er, I venture to state
th a t D ickens favoured redundant periphrastic expressions, seeing in them
a powerful means to impose on his readers his own assessm ent of events
and people. H ere is another of his periphrases:
B ut an addition to the little p a rty now made its appearance
( = an o th er person came in).
In characterizing the individual m anner of a bad w riter, V. G. Be
linsky says:
One is p artic u la rly struck by the art he displays in the use
of periphrasis: one and the sam e thought, sim ple and em pty as,
for exam ple, wooden tables are m ade of wood, drags along in a
strin g of long sentences, periods, tropes and figures of speech; he
tu rn s it around and around, extends it pages long and sprinkles it
w ith p u n ctuation m arks. E v ery th in g is so flowery, everyw here
there is such an abundance of ep ith ets and im agery th a t the inex
perienced reader m arvels at these purple patches of jew elled prose,
and his fascination vanishes only when he puts a question to him
self as to the content of the flam boyant article: for to his surprise
in lieu of any content he finds mere woolly phrases and fluffy selfconceit. This kind of w ritin g often appears in the W est, particu larly
since th e W est began to rot; here in R ussia where authorship has
n o t yet become a h a b it, such phenom ena are hardly possible. 2
The m eans supplied to enable the reader to decipher sty listic pe
rip h rasis are very su btle and have aesthetic value. In the following ex
am ple the word of address is the key to the periphrasis:
Papa, love. I am a m other. I have a child who w ill soon call
W alter by the name by which I call y o u (Dickens)
1 Preface to C ritical Reading. N. Y ., 1956, p. 91.
2 . . . . . , 1948, . II , . 407,

171

In some cases the author relies entirely on the erudition the reader
to decipher th e periphrasis. Thus in the following example:
Of his four sons, only two could be found sufficiently w ithout
the le' to go on m aking ploughs. (Galsworthy)
The letter e in some proper nam es is considered an indirect indi
cation of noble or supposed noble descent, cf. M oreton and M orton,
Sm ythe and S m ith , Browne and Brown, W ilde (Oscar) and W yld (Cecil).
The italicized phrase is a roundabout way of statin g th a t two of his sons
were unaristocratic enough to work a t m aking ploughs.
G enuine poetical periphrasis som etim es depicts the effect w ithout
m entioning the cause, gives particulars when having in view the general,
points out one tra it which will represent the whole. S ty listic periphrasis,
it m ust be repeated, like alm ost all lexical sty listic means, m ust effi
cien tly and in ten tio n ally introduce a dichotom y, in th is case the dichoto
my of two designations for one object or idea. If it fails to do so, there is
no sty listic device, only a hackneyed phrase.
Periphrases, once original but now hackneyed, are often to be found
in newspaper language. Mr. J . Donald Adams, who has w ritten a num ber
of articles and books on the use of English words in different contexts,
says in one of his articles:
We are all fam iliar w ith these exam ples of distended English,
and I shall pause for only one, quoted by Theodore M. B ernstein,
who as assistant m anaging editor of this new spaper acts as guardian
over the English em ployed in its news columns. It appears in his
recent book, W atch Your Language, and reads "Improved fin a n
cial support and less onerous work loads. T ranslation (by C lifton
Daniel): H igh p a y and less work. 1
H ere is another exam ple of a well-known, trad itio n al periphrasis
which has become established as a periphrastic synonym :
After only a short tim e of m arriage, he w asnt prepared to offer
advice to other youngsters intending to tie the kn o t... B ut, he said,
hes looking forward to having a fam ily. (from a new spaper article)
H ere we have a periphrasis m eaning to m arry (to tie the knot). It has
long been hackneyed and m ay be called a cliche. The difference between
a cliche and a periphrastic synonym lies in the degree to which the periph
rasis has lost its vigour. In cliches we still sense the dichotom y of the orig
inal clash between the words form ing a sem antic u n ity ; in periphrastic
synonym s th e clash is no longer felt unless the synonym s are subjected
to etym ological analysis.
In such collocations as I am seeing th in g s, or I m hearing bells
we hard ly ever perceive the novelty of the phrases and are a p t to under
stan d them for w hat they stand for now in m odern colloquial English,
i.e. to have hallucinations. Therefore these phrases m ust be recognized as

1 The New York Times Book Review, Nov. 23, 1958.

172

p erip h rastic colloquial synonym s of the concepts delirium or hallucina

tions.
S ty listic periphrasis can also be divided into / g i a I and / i gu r a t i v e. Logical periphrasis is based on one of the inherent properties
or perhaps a passing feature of the object described, as in instrum ents of
destruction (Dickens) = pistols; the m ost pardonable o f human weakne ses
(Dickens) = Iove; the object of his admiration (Dickens); th a t proport on
of th e population w hich... is yet able to read words o f more than one syl
lable, and to read them w ithout perceptible movement o f the lips
half
lite ra te .
F ig u rativ e periphrasis is based either on m etaphor or on m etonym y,
th e key-word of the collocation being the word used figuratively, as in
th e punctual servant of all work' (Dickens) = the su n '; in disgrace w ith
fortune and m ens eyes (Shakespeare) = in m isfortune; to tie the knot'
= to m arry .
T here is little difference between m etaphor or m etonym y, on the
one hand, and figurative periphrasis, on the other. It is the structural
aspect of th e periphrasis, which alw ays presupposes a w ord-com bination,
th a t is th e reason for the division.
f

-T 4

Euphem ism s
There is a v iely -o i-p e n p h rasis which we shall call euphem istic.
E u p h e m i s m , as is known, is a word or phrase used to replace an
unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable one,
for exam ple, th e word to d ie has bred the following euphemism s: to
pass away, to expire, to be no mure, to depart, to join the m ajority, to be
gone, and the more facetious ones: to kick the bucket, to give up the ghost,
to go west. So euphem ism s are synonym s which aim at producing a deli
berately m ild effect.
The origin of the term euphem ism discloses the aim of the device
very clearly, i.e. speaking well (from G reekeu = well + -pheme
speaking). In th e vocabulary of any language, synonym s can be found
th a t soften an otherw ise coarse or unpleasant idea. Euphem ism is some
tim es figuratively called a w hitew ashing device. The linguistic pecul
iarity of euphemism lies in the fact th at every euphemism m ust call up
a definite synonym in the m ind of the reader or listener. This synonym ,
or dom inant in a group of synonw us, as it is often called, m ust follow
the euphemism like a shadow, as to possess a vivid im agination, or
to tell sto ries in the proper context will call up the unpleasant verb to
lie. The euphem istic synonvm s given above are part of the language-as-asystem . They have not been freshly invented. They are expressive means
of the language and are to be found in all good dictionaries. They cannot
be regarded as sty listic devices because they do not call to m ind the key
word or dom inant of the group; in other words, they refer the m ind to the
concept directly, not through the medium of another word. Com pare
these euphem ism s w ith the following from D ickenss Pickw ick Papers:
They th in k we have come by this horse in some dishonest manner

173

p T h e italicized p a rts call forth the word ste a l (have stolen it).
L_Euphemisms m ay be divided into several groups according to th eir
spheres of app licatio n. The m ost recognized are the following: 1) reli
gious, 2) m oral, '3)~'medical and 4) parliam entary.
The life of euphemisms is short. They very soon Become closely as
sociated with the referent (the object named) and give way to a newlycoined word or combination of word^J which, being the sign of a sign,
throws another veil over an unpleasant or indelicate concept. Here is an
interesting excerpt from an article on this subject.
The evolution over the years of a civilized m ental health service
has been m arked by periodic changes in term inology. The mad
house becam e th e lunatic asylum-, the asylum m ade way for the
m ental hospitaleven if the building rem ained th e same. Idiots,
imbeciles and the feeble-minded becam e low, medium and high-grade
m ental defectives. All are now to be lum ped together as patients
of severely subnormal personality. The insane became persons of
unsound m ind, and are now to be m entally-ill patients. As each phrase
develops th e stigm ata of popular prejudice, it is abandoned in
favour of another, som etim es less precise than the old. U nim portant
in them selves, these changes of nam e are th e signposts of prog
ress. 1
A lbert C. Baugh gives another instance of such changes:
...th e com m on word for a wom ans 'undergarm ent down to the
eighteenth century was sm ock. It was then replaced by th e more
delicate word s h ift. In th e nineteenth century the sam e m otive
led to th e su b stitu tio n of the word chem ise and in th e tw entieth
th is has been replaced by com binations, step-ins, and other
euphem ism s. *
T oday we have a num ber of words denoting sim ilar garm ents, as
briefs, and others.
C onventional euphem ism s em ployed in conform ity to social usages
are best illu strated by th e parliam entary codes of expression. In an
article headed In Commons, a Lie is Inexactitud e w ritten b \ Jam es Fero n in The New Y o rk Tim es, we may find a num ber of words th at are not
to be used in P arliam en tary debate. W hen Sir W inston C hurchill, some
years ago," w rites Feron, term ed a p arliam entary opponent a purveyor
of term inological in exactitudes, every one in the cham ber knew he m eant
lia r . Sir W inston had been ordered by th e Speaker to w ithdraw a strong
er epith et. So he used th e euphem ism , w hich becam e famous and is still
used in th e Commons. It conveyed the insult w ithout sounding offensive,
and it satisfied th e Speaker. 3
T he au th o r fu rth er points out th a t certain words, for instance, traitor
and coward, are specifically banned in the House of Commons because ear
lier Speakers have ruled them disorderly or unparliam entary. Speakers
4 \'ew Statesman and Nation, Ju n e 15, 1957.
3 Baugji, A lbert C. Op. c it., p. 375.
* New Y erk Times, Nov. 6, 1964.

174

have decided th a t jackass is u nparliam entary but goose is acceptable;

dog, rat and swine are out of order, but h a lfw it and T ory clot are in order.
W e also learn from th is artic le th at a word cannot become th e sub
ject of parliam entary ruling unless a m em ber directs th e atten tio n of th e
Speaker to it. 1
T he changes in designating objects disclose the tru e n ature of the re
lations between words and their referents. W e m ust adm it th a t there is
a positive m agic in words and, as Prof. R andolph Q uirk has it,
...w e are liable to be dangerously m isled through being mes
m erized by a word nr through m istaking a word for its re fere n t."*
T his becomes p articu larly noticeable in connection w ith w hat are call
ed p o I i t i a I euphem ism s. Thes,e are really understatem ents, th e aim
of which is to m islead public opinion and to express w hat is unpleasant
in a m ore delicate m anner. Som etim es disagreeable facts are even distorted
w ith th e help of a euphem istic expression. Thus the headline in one of
th e B ritish new spapers "Tension in K ashm ir was to hide the fact th at
th ere was a real uprising in th a t area; U ndernourishm ent of children in
In d ia stood for sta rv a tio n . In A. J . C ronins novel The S tars Look
Down one of th e m embers of P arliam en t, referring to th e words U nder
nourishm ent of children in In d ia says: H onourable M embers of the
H ouse understand th e m eaning of this polite euphemism." By calling under
nourishm ent a po lite euphem ism he discloses the true m eaning of the
word.
An interesting article dealing w ith the question of political euphe
m ism s appeared in w ritten by the Italian jo u r
n alist E ntzo R ava and headed The V ocabulary of the Bearers of the
B urden of Pow er. In this article E ntzo R ava w ittily discusses th e euphe
m ism s of th e Italian cap italist press, w hich seem to have been borrowed
from th e A m erican and English press. Thus, for instance, he m ocking v
states th at ca p ita lists have disappeared from Italy . W hen th e adherents
of cap italism find it necessary to m ention capitalists, they replace the
word ca p ita list by th e com bination free enterprisers, the word p ro fit is
replaced by savings, the building up of labour reserves stands for unem
p loym ent, dism issal (discharge, firin g ) of workers is the reorganiza
tion o f the enterprise, etc.
As has already been explained, genuine euphemi m m ust call up the
word it stands for. It is alw ays th e result of some deliberate clash between
tw'o synonym s. If a euphem ism fails to carry along w ith it the word it is
intended to replace, it is not a euphem ism , bu t a deliberate veiling of the
tru th . AH these building up of labour reserves, savings, free enterprisers
and th e like are not intended to give the referent its tru e nam e, but to
d isto rt th e tru th . T he above expressions serve th a t purpose. Com pare these
w ord-com binations w ith real euphem ism s, like a four-letter word ( = an
obscenity); or a woman of a certain type ( = a p rostitute, a whore); to
1 Ibid.
2 Quirk. Randolph. The Use of English Longmans, 1962, p. 118.
* , 1965, 22/VI.

175

glow ( = to sweat), all of w hich bring to our m ind the other word (words)
and only through them the referent.
H ere is another good exam ple of euphem istic phrases used by G als
w orthy in his Silver Spoon.
In p riv ate I should m erely call him a liar. In the Press you
should use th e words: Reckless disregard fo r tru th and in P a rlia
m ent th a t you regret he should have been so m isinform ed.'
P erip h rastic and euphem istic expressions were characteristic of cer
tain literary trends and even produced a term p e r i p h r a s t i c s t y l e .
B u t it soon gave way to a m ore straightforw ard way of describing things.
The veiled forms of expression, w rites G. H . M cKnight, which
served when one was unw illing to look facts in th e face have been
succeeded by naked expressions exhibiting re a lity . 1
Hyperbole
Another SD which also has the function of intensifying one certain
property of th e object described is h y p e r b o l e . It can be defined as
a deliberate overstatem ent or exaggeration of a feature essential (unlike
periphrasis) to th e object or phenomenon. In its extrem e form this exagger
ation is carried to an illogical degree, som etim es ad absurdum. For
exam ple:
H e was so tall th a t I was not sure he had a face. (O. H enry) or,
Those three words (Dombey and S o n ) conveyed the one idea of
Mr. D om beys life. The earth was m ade for Dombey and Son to
trad e in and the sun and moon were m ade to give them light. R iv
ers and seas were formed to float their ships; rainbow s gave them
prom ise of fair w eather; winds blew for or against their enterprises;
stars and planets circled in their orbits to preserve inviolate a sys
tem of which they were the centre. (Dickens)
In order to depict the w id th of th e riv er Dnieper Gogol uses the follow
ing hyperbole:
I t s a rare bird th a t can fly to the m iddle of the D nieper.
Like m any sty listic devices, hyperbole m ay lose its quality as a sty l
istic device through frequent repetition and become a unit of the language-as-a-system , reproduced in speech in its unaltered form. H ere
are some exam ples of language hyperbole:
A thousand p ard on s; scared to death', immensely obliged; I d
give the world to see h im .
Byron says:
W hen people say I've told you f i f t y limes
They m ean to scold, and \ e r y often do.
1 M cK night. G. H . Modern Fnglish in the Making. Ldn, 1930, p. 543.

H yperbole differs from m ere exaggeration in th at it is intended to

be understood as an exaggeration In this connection the following quo
tatio n s deserve a passing note:
H yperbole is th e result of a kind of intoxication by em otion,
w hich prevents a person from seeing things in th e ir tru e dim en
sions... If th e reader (listener) is not carried aw ay by the em otion
of the w riter (speaker), hyperbole becomes a m ere lie. 1
V. V. V inogradov, developing G orkis statem ent th at genuine art
enjoys th e rig h t to exaggerate, states th a t hyperbole is the law of art
which brings th e existing phenom ena of life, diffused as they are, to the
point of m axim um clarity and conciseness.2
H yperbole is a device which sharpens th e readers ab ility to m ake a i
logical assessment of the utterance. This is achieved, as is the case w ith
other devices, by aw akening the dichotom y of thought and feeling where
thought takes the upper hand though not to the d etrim en t of feeling. I
----------i
D. PECULIAR USE OF SET EXPRESSIONS
In language studies there are tw o very clearly-m arked tendencies th at
th e stu d en t should never lose sight of, p articu larly when dealing w ith
th e problem of w ord-com bination. They are 1) t h e a n a l y t i c a l
t e n d e n c y , which seeks to dissever one com ponent from another and
2) t h e s y n t h e t i c
t e n d e n c y which seeks to integrate the
p arts of th e com bination into a stable unit.
These tw'o tendencies are treated in different wrays in lexicology and
sty listics. In lexicology th e parts of a stable lexical unit m ay be sepa
rated in order to m ake a scientific investigation of the character of the
com bination and to analyse the com ponents. In sty listics we analyse
th e com ponent parts in order to get at some com m unicative effect sought
by th e w riter. It is th is com m unicative effect and the m eans em ployed to
achieve it th a t lie w ithin the dom ain of stylistics.
T he integrating tendency also is closely studied in the realm of
lexicology, expecially when linguistic scholars seek to fix w hat seems
to be a stab le w ord-com bination and ascertain the degree of its sta b il
ity, its v aria n ts and so on. The integrating tendency is also w ithin
th e dom ain of stylistics, p articu larly when the w ord-com bination has
not yet formed itself as a lexical u n it bu t is in the process of being so
formed.
H ere we are faced w ith the problem of what is called the cliche.
The Cliche
A c l i c h i is generally defined as an expression th a t has become
hackneyed and trite. As R andom House D ictionary has it, a cliche
... has lost orig in ality, ingenuity, and im pact by long over-use...
1 . . . , 1905, . 355.
2 See *. 1953, 1, . 10.
177

This definition lacks one point th at should be emphasized; th at is,

a cliche strives after o rig in a lit\, whereas it has lost the aesthetic gene
ra tin g power it once had. There is alw ays a contradiction between w hat
is aim ed at and w hat is ac tu ally attained. Exam ples of real cliches
are 'rosy dreums o f yo uth, the p a tter o f little feet' , deceptively simple'
.Definitions taken from various dictionaries show th at cliche is a
derogatory term and it is therefore necessary to avoid anything th at
may be called by th a t nam e. B ut the fact is th a f o n y ^ - o f . the.. widely
recognized wnrd-mmhina-tinns which have b etm iaS o p ted b y the language
are un ju stly classified as c liches. The aversion for cliches has gone so
far th at most of the lexical un its based on sim ile (see p. 167) are branded
as cliches. In an interesting article en title d G reat Cliche Debate" pub
lished in the New York Times M agazine1 we can read the pros and cons
concerning cliches. The article is revealing on one m ain point. It illu
strates the fact th a t an uncertain or vague term will lead to various
and even conflicting interpretations of the idea em bodied in the term .
W hat, indeed, do the words stereotyped, hackneyed, trite convey
to th e min'd? FifsD oD alt they indicate th a t ttre~phrase-h m common use.
Is th is a dem erit? Not at all. On the contrary: som ething common,
h ab itu al, devoid of novelty is the only adm issible expression in some
types of com m unications. In the article ju st m entioned one of the debators objects to the phrase Jack-of-all-trades and suggests th at it should
be one who can turn his hand to any (or to m any kinds of) work. H is
opponent n atu ra lly rejects the su b stitu te on the grounds th at Ja c k of
all trad es m ay, as he says, have long ceased to be vivid or original,
but his su b stitu te never was. And it is fourteen words instead of four.
D eterm ine to avoid cliches at all costs and you are alm ost certain to
be led into gobbledygook. 2
D ebates of th is kind proceed from a grossly m istaken notion th at the
term cliche is used to denote all stable w ord-com binations, whereas it
was coined to denote w ord-com binations which have long lost their
novelty and become trite , but which are used as if they were fresh and
original and so have become irrita tin g to people w'ho are sensitive to the
language th e y hear and read. W hat is fam iliar should not be given a
derogatory label. On the contrary, if it has become fam iliar, th at means
it has won general recognition and by iteratio n has been accepted as a
u n it of the language.
B ut the process of being acknowledged as a u n it of language is slow.
It is next to im possible to foretell w hat m ay be accepted as a u n it of
the language and w hat m ay be rejected and cast aw ay as being unfit,
inappropriate, alien to the internal laws of the language, or failing to
m eet th e dem and of the language com m unity for stable wxird-combinations to designate new notions. Hence the two conflicting ideas: language
should alw ays be fresh, vigorous and expressive, and, on the other hand,
language, as a common tool for intercom m unication, should m ake use

1 August 31, 1958.

2 Ibid.

178

of u nits th at are easily understood and which require little or no effort

to convey th e idea and to grasp it.
R. D. A ltick in his Preface to C ritical Reading condemns every
word sequence in which w hat follows can easily be predicted from w hat
precedes
W hen does an expression becom e a cliche? There can be no de
fin ite answer, because w hat is trite to one person m ay still be fresh
to another. B ut a great m any expressions are universally understood
to be so th readbare as to be useless except in th e most casual dis
course... A good practical test is this: If, when you are listening to
a speaker, you can accurately a n ticip ate what he is going to say
n ex t, he is p re tty certain ly using cliches, otherw ise he would be
constantly surprising you. 1
Then he gives exam ples, like We are gathered here to-day to mourn
(the u n tim ely d ea th ) o f our beloved leader...; Words are inadequate
(to express th e grief th a t is in our h e a rts).
S im ilarly when you read , he goes on, if one word alm ost in
ev itab ly invites another, if you can read half of the words and know
p re tty certain ly w hat the other are, you are reading cliches.
And then again come illu stratio n s, lik e We watched the flam es (lick
ing) a t the side o f the building. A p a ll (of sm oke) hung thick over the
neighbourhood...; He heard a dull (th u d ) which was followed by an omi
nous (silence).2
This passage shows th at the author has been led into the erroneous
no tio n th at everything that is p red ictab le is a cliche. H e is confusing
useful w ord-com binations circulating in speech as m em bers of the wordstock of the language w ith w hat claim s to be genuine, original and
vigorous. All w ord-com binations th at do not surprise are labelled as
cliches. If we agree w ith such an u n d erstan d in g of the term , we must
ad m it th a t the following stable and necessary w ord-com binations used
in new spaper language m ust be viewed as cliches: effective guarantees,
'im m ediate issues, the whip and ca rro t policy, 'statem ent o f policy',
to m aintain some equilibrium betw een reliable sources, ' buffer zone,
he laid it down equally clearly t h a t .. . and so on.
R. D. A ltick thus denounces as cliches such verb- and noun-phrases
as to live to a ripe old age', -to grow b y leaps and bounds', to w ithstand
the test o f tim e', to let bygones be bygones', to be unable to see the wood
fo r the trees', to upset the apple-cart', to have an ace up one's sleeve'.
A nd fin ally he rejects such w ord-com binations as the full flush of vic
to ry , the p a tte r of ra in , p art and p a rc e l', a diam ond in the rough
and the like on the grounds th at they have outlasted their freshness. 3
In his protest against hackneyed p h ra ses, A ltick has gone so far as
to declare th a t people have adopted p h ra se s like clock-work precision,
1 A ltick, R D . Preface to C ritical R ead m it- H o lt, N. Y ., 1956, p. 100.
2 Ibid.
* Ibid.

179

tight-lipped (or stony) silence, crushing defeat, bumper-to-bumper

traffic, 'sky-rocketing costs and the like
. as a way of evading their
obligation to make their own language."1
Of course, if instead of m aking use of the existing means of com m uni
cation, i.e. the language of the com m unity, people are to coin their
own language," then A ltick is right. B ut nobody would ever th in k such
an idea eith er sound or reasonable. The set expressions of a language
are part and parcel of the vocabulary of the language and cannot be
dispensed w ith by merely labelling them cliches.
However, at every period in the developm ent of a language, there
appear strange com binations of words which arouse suspicion as to their
m eaning and connotation. M any of the new-born w ord-com binations
in modern English, both in their Am erican and B ritish varian ts, have
been m ade fun of because their m eaning is still obscure, and therefore
they are used rath er loosely. R ecently in the New York Times such cli
ches as speaking re alizatio n , growing awareness, 'risin g expectations,
to think unthinkable thoughts and others were w ittily criticized by a
jo u rn alist who showed th at ordinary rank-and-file Am erican people do
not understand these new w'ord-com binations, ju st as they fail to u n
derstand certain neologisms, as opt ( = to m ake a choice), and revived
words, as deem ( = to consider, to believe to be) and others and reject
them or use them wrongly.
B ut as history has proved, the protest of too-zealous purists often
fails to bar the way to all kinds of innovations into standard English.
Illu strativ e in th is respect is the protest m ade by B yron in his Don
Ju a n :
. . .free to confess' (whence comes this phrase?
Ist English? No tis only p arlia m e n ta ry ).
and also:
A strange coincidence to use a phrase
By which such things are settled now adays.
or:
The march o f Science (How delightful these cliches are!)...
(Aldington)
Byron, being very sensitive to th e aesthetic aspect of his native
language, could not help observing the triteness of the phrases he com
m ents on, but at the same tim e he accepts them as ready-m ade units.
Language has its strength and its weaknesses. A linguistic scholar m ust
be equipped w ith m ethods of sty listic analysis to ascertain the w riters
aim , the situ atio n in which the com m unication takes place and possibly
the im pact on th e reader, to decide w hether or not a phrase is a cliche or
th e rig h t word in th e rig h t place. If he does not take into consideration
all th e properties of th e given word or w ord-com bination, the intricacies
of language u n its m ay become a trap for him .
1 Ibid.

180

M en-of-letters, if they are real artists, use the stock of expressive

phrases contained in the language n atu ra lly and easily, and well-known
phrases never produce the im pression of being cliches.
Proverbs and Sayings
Proverbs and sayings are facts of language. They are collected in
dictionaries. There are special dictionaries of p ro \e rb s and sayings. It is
im possible to arrange proverbs and sayings in a form th at would present
a p attern even though they have some typical features by which it is
possible to determ ine w hether or not we are dealing w ith one. These
typical features are: rh y th m , som etimes rhym e and or allite ratio n .
But the most characteristic feature of a proverb or a saying lies not
in its formal linguistic expression, but in the content-form of the u tte r
ance. As is known, a proverb or a saying is a peculiar mode of utterance
w'TTTch is m ainly characterized by its brevity. The utterance itself, taken
at its face value, presents a pattern which can be successfully used for
other utterances. The peculiarity of the use of a proverb lies in the fact
th a t the actual wording becomes a p attern which needs no new wording
to suggest extensions of m eaning which are contextual. In other words,
a proverb presupposes a sim ultaneous application of two meanings:
th e face-value or prim ary m eaning, and an extended m eaning drawn
from the context, but bridled by the face-value meaning. In other words,
th e proverb itself becomes a vessel into w'hich new content is poured.
The actu al w ording of a proverb, its prim ary m eaning, narrow s the
field of possible extensions of m eaning, i.e. the filling up of the form.
T h at is why we m ay regard the proverb as a pattern of thought. So it is
in every other case at any other level of linguistic research. A bstract
form ulas offer a w ider range of possible applications to p ractical p u r
poses than concrete words, though they have the same purpose.
Almost every good w riter will m ake use of language idioms, by
phrases and proverbs. As Gorki has it, they are the n atu ral ways in which
speech develops.
Proverbs and sayings have certain purely linguistic features which
m ust alw ays be taken into account in order to distinguish them from
ord in ary sentences. Proverbs are brief statem ents showing in condensed
form the accum ulated life experience of the com m unity and serving as
conventional practical sym bols for abstract ideas. They are usually
did actic and image bearing. M any of them through frequency of re p eti
tion have become polished and wrought into verse-like shape, as in the
following:
to cut ones coat according to ones cloth.
E arly to bed and early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, w ealthy and wise.
B revity in proverbs m anifests itself also in the om ission of connec
tives, as in:
F irst come, first served.
O ut of sight, out of m ind.
181

B ut the m ain feature distinguishing proverbs and sayings from o r

dinary utterances rem ains their sem antic aspect. Their literal m eaning
is suppressed by w hat m a\ be term ed their transferred meaning. In
other words, one m eaning (literal) is the form for another m eaning
(transferred) which contains the idea. Proverbs and sayings, if used
appro p riately , will never lose their freshness and vi^&uT. The most no
ticeable th in g about the functioning of sayings, proverbs and catchphrases is th a t they m ay be handled not in their fixed form (the tra d i
tional model) but w ith m odifications. These m odifications, however,
w ill never break aw ay from the in v arian ts to such a degree th at the cor
relatio n between the invariant model of a word-com bination and its
v aria n t ceases to be perceived by the reader. The p red ic tab ility of a
v aria n t of a w ord-com bination is lower in com parison w ith its invariant.
Therefore the use of such a u n it in a m odified form will alw ays arrest
our atten tio n , causing a much closer exam ination of the wording of
the utteran ce in order to get at the idea. Thus, th e proverb all is not
gold th a t g litte rs appears in B yrons Don J u a n in the following form
and environm ent where a t first the m eaning m ay seem obscure:
How all the needy honourable m isters,
Each out-at-elbow peer or desperate dandy,
The w atchful m others, and the careful sisters
(W ho, by the by, when clever, are more handy
At m aking m atches where t is gold that g listers"1
T han th eir he relatives), like flies o er candy
Buzz round the Fortune w ith their busy battery,
To tu rn her head w ith w altzing and w ith flattery .
O ut of th e well-known proverb Byron builds a periphrasis, the m ean
ing of w'hich is deciphered two lines below: th e F ortune, th a t is, a m ar
riageable heiress).
It has already been pointed out th at Byron is fond of playing w ith
stab le w ord-com binations, som etim es injecting new vigour into the com
ponents, som etim es en tirely disregarding the sem antic u n ity of the com
bination. In th e follow ing lines, for instance, each w'ord of the phrase
safe and sound gets its full meaning.
I leave Don J u a n for the present, safe
N o t sound, poor fellow, but severely wounded;
The proverb H ell is paved w ith good intentions and the set expres
sion to mean well are used by Byron in a peculiar way, thus m aking the
reader re-appraise th e hackneyed phrases.
........................................................................ if he w arrd
Or loved, it was w ith w hat we call the best
Intentions, which form all m ankinds trum p card,
To be produced when brought up to the test.
The statesm an, hero, harlot, lawyerward
Off each attac k , w'hen people are in quest
1 the archaic form of glitters

182

Of th eir designs, by saying they m eant well.

T is p ity that such m eaning should pave hell.
The sty listic effect produced by such uses of proverbs and sayings
is th e re su lt of a twofold app licatio n of language m eans, which, as has
already been em phasized, is an indispensable condition for the appearance
of all sty listic devices. The modified form of the proverb is perceived
against th e background of the fixed form, thus enlivening the latter.
Som etim es th is injection of new vigour into the proverb causes a slight
sem antic re-evaluation of its generally accepted m eaning. W hen a prov
erb is used in its unaltered form it can be qualified as an expressive
m eans (EM) of th e language; when used in a modified v aria n t it assumes
th e one of the features of an SD, it acquires a sty listic m eaning, though
n o t becoming an SD.
W e shall tak e only a few of the num erous exam ples of the sty listic
use of proverbs and sayings to illu stra te the possible ways of decomposing
th e u nits in order sim ply to suggest the idea behind them :
Come! he said, m ilk 's spilt." (Galsworthy) (from It is no use
crying over sp ilt m ilk !).
B ut to all th at m oving experience there had been a shadow
(a dark lin in g to the silver cloud), insistent and plain, which discon
certed her. (Maugham) (from Every cloud has a silver lining).
We were dashed uncom fortable in the frying-pan, but we should
have been a dam ned sight worse off in the fire. (Maugham) (from
O ut of the frying-pan into the fire).
You know which side the law s buttered." (Galsworthy) (from
H is bread is buttered on both sides).
This device is used not only in the belles-lettres style. H ere are some
instances from newspapers and magazines illu stra tin g the sty listic use
of proverbs, sayings and other w ord-com binations:
...an d w hether the M inistry of Econom ic W arfare is being a ll
owed enough financial rope to do its w orst. (from G ive a thief
rope enough and h ell hang him self)
The w aters will rem ain sufficiently troubled for som ebodys
fish in g to be profitable." ( Economist) (from I t is good fishing in
troubled w aters').
A new spaper ed ito rial once had the following headline:
Proof o f the P udding" (from The proof o f the pudding is in the
ea tin g ).
Here is a recast of a well-known proverb used by an advertizing agency:
E a rly to bed and early to rise
No useunless you advertize
(from E a rly to bed and early to rise
M akes a man healthy, wealthy and wise).
183

N otice th is recast by Lewis C arroll of a well-known sa y in g :1

Take care of th e sense and the sounds w ill take care of them
selves.

Epigram s

A n e p i g r a m is a sty listic device akin to a proverb, the only

difference being th at epigram s are coined by individuals whose nam es
we know, w hile proverbs are the coinage of the people. In other words,
we are always aw are of the parentage of an epigram and therefore, when
using one, we usually m ake a reference to its author.
Epigram s are terse, w itty , pointed statem ents, showing the ingenious
tu rn of m ind of the originator. They alw ays have a literary-bookish air
ab out them th a t distinguishes them from proverbs. Epigram s possess
a great degree of independence and therefore, if taken ou t of the context,
w ill re ta in the wholeness qf the idea they express. They have a generaliz
ing function and are self-sufficient. The m ost characteristic feature of
an epigram is th at the sentence gets accepted as a w ord-com bination and
often becomes p art of the language as a whole. Like proverbs, epigram s
can be expanded to apply to ab stract notions (thus em bodying different
spheres of ap plication). B revity is the essential q u ality of the epigram .
A. Chekhov once said th a t brevity is the sister of talen t; B revity is the
soul of the w it holds tru e of any epigram .
Epigram s are often confused w ith aphorism s and paradoxes. It is dif
ficult to draw a dem arcation line between them , the distinction being
very subtle. Real epigram s are true to fact and th a t is why they win
general recognition and acceptance.
Let us tu rn to exam ples.
Somerset M augham in The R azors Edge says:
A rt is triu m p h an t when it can use convention as an instrum ent
of its own purpose.
This statem ent is interesting from more th an one point of view. It
shows the ingenious turn of m ind of the w riter, it gives an indirect de
finition of art as Maugham understands it, it is com plete in itself even
if taken out of the context. B ut still this sentence is not a model epigram
because it lacks one essential q u ality , viz. brevity. It is too long and
therefore cannot function in speech as a ready-m ade language unit. Be
sides, it lacks other features which are inherent in epigram s and make
them sim ilar to proverbs, i.e. rhythm , allite ratio n and often rhym e. It
cannot be expanded to other spheres of life, it does not generalize.
Compare this sentence w ith the following used by the sam e author
in the same novel.
A God th a t can be understood is no God.
This sentence seems to meet all the necessary requirem ents of the
epigram : it is brief, generalizing, w itty and can be expanded in its appli
cation. The same applies to B \ro n s
1 Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves.

184

...in th e days of old men made manners;

M anners now m ake men (Don Ju a n )
or Keats
A th in g of beauty is a joy forever.
W riters who seek aesthetic precision use the epigram abundantly;
others use it to characterize the hero of their work. Somerset Maugham
is p articu larly fond of it and m any of his novels and stories abound in
epigram s. H ere are some from The P ain ted V eil.
H e th a t bends shall be m ade stra ig h t.
F ailu re is th e foundation of success and success is the lurking
place of failu re...
M ighty is he who conquers him self.
There are utterances which in form are epigram m atic these are
verses and in p artic u la r definite kinds of verses. The last two lines of
a sonnet are called epigram m atic because according to the sem antic
stru ctu re of this form of verse, they sum up and synthesize what has been
said before. The heroic couplet, a special com positional form of verse,
is also a su itab le medium for epigram s, for instance:
To observations which ourselves we make,
W e grow more p a rtia l for th observers sake.
(Alexander Pope)
There are special dictionaries which are called D ictionaries of Q uota
tions. These, in fact, are m ostly dictionaries of epigram s. W hat is worth
quoting m ust alw ays contain some degree of the generalizing q u ality and
if it comes from a work of poetry w ill have m etre (and som etim es rhym e).
T h at is w hy th e works of Shakespeare, Pope, Byron and m any other great
E nglish poets are said to be full of epigram m atic statem ents.
T he epigram is, in fact, a supra-phrasal u n it in sense, though not in
stru ctu re (see p. 194).
P o etry is epigram m atic in essence. It alw ays strives for b revity of
expression, leaving to the m ind of the reader th e pleasure of am plifying
the idea. B y ro n s
The dry ing up a single tear has more
Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore,
is a strongly worded epigram , which impresses the reader w ith its gener
alizin g tru th . It m ay be regarded as a supra-phrasal u n it inasm uch as
it is sem antically connected w ith the preceding lines and a t the same
tim e enjoys a considerable degree of independence. The inner quality
of any sentence to which the ra n k of epigram , in the generic sense of
the term , can be attrib u te d , is th a t the p a rtic u la rity of th e event is
replaced by a tim eless n o n -p a rtic u la rity .1

1 Cf. Chafe, W . M eaning and th e S tru ctu re of Language. Chicago, 1970, p. 173.
185

Quotations
Next to th e o riginator of a good sentence
is the first quoter of it. Emerson

A q u o t a t i o n is a rep etitio n of a phrase or statem ent from a

book, speech and the like used by wav of au th o rity , illu stratio n , proof
or as a basis Tor further speculation on the m atter in hand.
By rep eatin g a passage in a new environm ent, we attach to the u t
terance an im portance it m ight not have had in the context whence it
was taken. M oreover, we give it the statu s, tem porary though it may
be, of a stab le language u n it. W hat is quoted m ust be w orth quoting,
since a q uotation will inevitably acquire some degree of generalization.
If repeated frequently, it m ay be recognized as an epigram , if, of course,
it has a t least some of the linguistic properties of the latter.
(jjtH^Quotations are usually m arked off in the text by inverted commas
| ( ), dashes ( ), italics or other graphical means^yffvtviA1^

They are m ostly used a&!8$pan?ecr dv a reference to the author of

J the quotation, unless he is well known to the reader or audience. The
V R e fe re n c e is m ade either in the tex t or in a foot-note and assumes various forms, as, for instance:
as (so and so) has i f ; (So and so) once said th a t...; H ere we quote
(so and so) or in the m anner the reference to Em erson has been made
in the epigraph to this chapter.
A quotation is the exact reproduction of an actual utterance made
by a certain author. The work containing the utterance quoted m ust
have been published or at least spoken in public; for quotations are
echoes of som ebody elses words.
U tterances, when quoted, undergo a peculiar and subtle change.
They are rank-and-file members of the text they belong to, m erging
w ith other sentences in this tex t in the most n atu ra l and organic way,
bearing some p art of the general sense the text as a whole embodies;
yet, when they are quoted, their sign ficance is heightened and they
become different from other p arts of the text. Once quoted, they are
no longer rank-and-file units. If they are used to back up the idea ex
pressed in the new tex t, they become parent sentences w ith the cor
responding a u th o rity and respect and acquire a sym bolizing function;
in short, they not infrequentl> become epigram s, for exam ple, H a m lets
To be or not to be!
A quotation is always set against the other sentences in the text
by its greater volum e of sense and significance. This singles it out, p ar
ticu larly if it is frequently repeated, as any utterance worth com m itting
to memory generally is. The use of quotations presupposes a good know
ledge of the past experience of the n atio n , its literatu re and c u ltu re .1
The sty listic value of a quotation lies m ainly in the fact th a t it com
prises two meanings: the prim ary m eaning, the one which it has in its
original surroundings, and the ap p licativ e m eaning, i.e. the one which
it acquires in th e new context.
1 A quotation from B yrons English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" w ill be apt as a
com m eit here: W ith ju st enough of learning to misquote,

186

QHnfcffnr^, nnlilfp ppipranit, need not necessarily be short. A whole

paragraph or a long passage m ay be quoted if~Tf~siiits the purpose.
It is to be noted, however, th a t som etim es in spite of the fact th a t the
exact w ording is used, a quotation in a new environm ent m ay assume
a new shade of m eaning, a shade necessary or sought by the quoter, but
n o t intended by the w riter of the original work.
H ere we give a few exam ples of the use of quotations.
Socrates said, our only knowledge was
To know th a t noth in g could be known a pleasant
Science enough, which levels to an ass
E ach m an of W isdom , future, past or present,
Newton (th at proverb of the m ind) alas!
Declared w'ith all his grand discoveries recent
T h at he him self felt only like a youth
P icking up shells by the great oceanT ru th . (Byron)
Ecclesiastes said, th a t all is v an ity
Most m odern preachers say the same, or show it
By th eir exam ples of the C h ristia n ity ... (Byron)
Q uotations are used as a sty listic device, as is seen from these exam
ples, w ith the aim of expanding the m eaning of the sentence quoted and
settin g two m eanings one against the other, thus m odifying the original
m eaning. In this q u ality they are used m ostly in the belles-lettres style.
Q uotations used in other styles of speech allow no m odifications of m ean
ing, unless actu al d istortion of form and m eaning is the aim of the quoter.
Q u otations are also used in epigraphs. The quotation in this case
possesses great associative power and calls forth much connotative meanI

Allusions

A n a l l u s i o n is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a

histo rical, lite rary , m ythological, biblical fact or to a fact/of e \e ry d a y
life m ade in th e course of speaking or w r i t i n g / r h e u s e o | alltis ion presup
poses knowledge of the fact, th in g jj,p e t g o n a rm tf^ a to on the p a rt of
the reader or listener. As a ^ ! thejourcfe is given.^This
is one of th e n o tab le d lT fertreesb H w een T p I^atio rran d allusion. ^Another
difference is of a stru ctu ral nature: a q u q t a t i a q j n u s t repeat the exact
wording of the o riginal even though fhe m eaning m a y b e modified by the
'ne\W cont e x a H u s f o r T T s only a m ention of a word or phrase which
m ay be rVgarue*
the k evw ord of th

e~'AT1 ertain im p o rtan t sem antic peculiarities, in th a t the m eaning of the word
(the allusion) should be regarded as a form for the new m e a n in g .J n o th ^
words, th e prim ary m eaning of the w r o r d ^ ja h rase which is assum fa to
be known (i.e. th e allusion) serves as a \e sle l into Which iiewr m eaning
" s poured. Bo here there is also a kind of interplay between two m eanings.
H ere is a passage in which an allusion is m ade to the coachm an, Old
Mr. W eller, the father of D ickenss famous character, Sam W eller. In
th is case the nom inal m eaning is broadened into a generalized concept:

c 'v . f M y

W here is th e road now, and its m erry incidents of life!., old honest,
pim ple-nosed coachmen? I wonder where are they, those good fellows?
Is old Weller aliv e or dead? (Thackeray)
The volum e of m eaning in this allusion goes beyond the actual know
ledge of the ch aracters tra its. E ven the phrases about the road and the
coachmen bear indirect reference to D ickenss Pickw ick P apers.
H ere is another instance of allusion which requires a good knowledge
of m ythology, h istory and geography if it is to be com pletely understood.
Shakespeare talks of the herald M ercury
New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill\
And some such visions crossd her m ajesty
W hile her young herald k n elt before her still.
Tis very tru e the h ill seemd ra th e r high,
For a lieu tenant to clim b up; bu t skill
Sm ooth'd even the S im p lo n 's steep, and by G ods blessing
W ith youth and health all kisses are heaven-kissing.
(Byron)
M ercury, J u p ite rs messenger, is referred to here because Don Ju a n
brings a dispatch to C atherine II of R ussia and is therefore her m ajestys
herald. B ut th e phrase ...sk ill sm oothd even the S im plons steep ...
w ill be qu ite incom prehensible to those readers who do not know th a t
Napoleon b u ilt a carriage road near the village of Sim plon in the pass
6590 feet over th e Alps and founded a hospice at the sum m it. Then the
words S im plons steep become charged w ith, significance,and im plica- ^
tions which now need no further c o m m e n t ^ - V f ^ U ' ^
Allusions are bases) on th e accum ulated!pyjW ienre and fne knnwlpHgp
^ o tfte w riter wMo presupposes a sim ilar experience and knowledge in
^THe reader. But th e knowledge stored in nnr m inds is rallerl forth hv an
allusion in a p e^ u lia rm a n n e r. All kinds of associations we m ay not yet
have realized clutepR )und the facts alluded to. Illu strativ e in this re
spect is th e q uotation-allusion made in Som erset M augham s novel The
P ain ted V eil. The last words uttered by the dying man are The dog it
was th a t died. These are the concluding lines of G oldsm iths Elegy on
the D eath of a Mad Dog. Unless the reader knows the Elegy, he will
not understand th e im plication em bodied in this quotation. C onsequently,
the quotation here becomes an allusion which runs through the whole
plot of the novel. M oreover, the psychological tunin g of the novel can be
deciphered only by draw ing a parallel between the poem and the plot of
th e novel.
The m ain character is dying, having failed to revenge him self upon
his unfaithful wife. H e was punished by death for having plotted evil.
This is the inference to be drawn from the allusion.
The following passage from D ickenss H ard Times will serve to prove
how r^niote m ay be the associations called up by an allusion.
^o s^N o little G randgrind had ever associated a cow in a field w ith
tn a t famous cow w ith the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worj
ried the cat that killed the ra t that ate the m alt, or w ith th a t yet more
188

famous cow that swallowed Tom Thumb-, it had never heard of those
celebrities.
The m eaning th a t can be derived from the two allusions, one to the
nursery rhym e The House th a t Ja c k b u ilt and the other to the old tale
The H isto ry of Tom Thum b is the following:
No one was p erm itted to teach the little G randgrind children the
lively, v ivid nursery rhym es and tales th a t every English child knows
by heart. They were subjected to noth in g but dry ab stract drilling. The
word cow in the two allusions becomes im pregnated w ith concrete m ean
ing set against the ab stract m eaning of cow-in-a-field, or cow-in-general.
To put it into the term s of theoretical linguistics, cow-in-a-field refers
to the n o m inating rath er than to the signifying aspect of the-w ord.
A llusions and Quotations mav be term ed n o t i c e - s e t - e x p r k ss i o n s because they used only for the occasion. t
h. ci *.,
T7T2U- A jjusionT a s h a s been pointed out, needs no irdicatjion of the source,
- is assumed to be known. Therefore most allusions are m ade to facts
-yf'w'ith which the general reader should be fam iliar. However, allusions
are som etim es m ade to things and facts which need com m entary before<
they are understood.
\ tyK&'i&'vuut
J^ u-r
A llusions are used in different styles, but their. J u n c t i o o J s every
where the same. The deciphering of an allusionThow ever, is not always
easy. In new spaper headlines allusions m ay be decoded at first glance,
as, for instance:
P ie in the sky for R ailm en 1
Most people in the USA and B ritain know the refrain of the workers
song: Youll get pie in the sky when you die.
The use of part of the sentence-refrain im plies th a t the railm en had
been given many promises but nothing at the present m om ent. L in
gu istically th e allusion pie in the sk y assumes a new m eaning, viz.
nothing b u t promises. Through frequency of repetition it m ay enter into
the word-stock of the English language as a figurative synonym .
Decomposition of Set Phrases
L inguistic fusions are set phrases, the m eaning of which is understood
only from th e com bination as a whole, as to p u ll a person's leg or to have
something a t one's finger tips. The m eaning of the whole cannot be derived
from the m eanings of the com ponent parts. The sty listic device of decom
position of fused set phrases consists in reviving the independent m ean
ings which make up the com ponent parts of the fusion. In other words, it
m akes each word of the com bination acquire its literal m eaning which, of
course, in m any cases leads to the realization of an absurdity. Here is
an exam ple of this device as em ployed by Dickens:
Mind! I dont mean to say th a t I know of m y own knowledge,
w hat there is p articu larly dead about a door-nail. I m ight have been

1 D aily

Worker,

Feb. I, I9G2.
189

inclined, myself, to regard a coffin nail as the deadest piece of iron

mongery in the trade. B ut the wisdom of our ancestors is in th e ,si
m ile; and m y unhallowed hands shall not disturb it or the C ountrys
done for. You w ill, therefore, perm it me to repeat em phatically
th at M arley was as dead as a door-nail." (Dickens)
As is seen in this excerpt, the fusion as dead as a door-nail, which
sim ply means completely dead, is decomposed by being used in a differ
ent stru ctu ral p attern . This causes the violation of the generally rec
ognized m eaning of the com bination which has grown into a mere emo
tional intensifier. The reader, being presented w ith the parts of the u n it,
becomes aw are of the m eanings of the parts, which, be it repeated, have
little in common w ith the m eaning of the whole. W hen, as D ickens does,
the u n it is re-established in its original form, the phrase acquires a fresh
v gour and effect, qu alities im portant in this utterance because the unit
itself was m eant to carry the strongest possible proof th a t the m an was
actu a lly dead.
A nother exam ple from th e same story:
Scrooge had often heard it said th a t money had no bowels, but he
had never believed it u n til now.
The bowels (guts, intestines) were supposed to be the seat of the emo
tions of p ity and com passion. But here Dickens uses the phrase to have
no bowels in its literal m eaning: Scrooge is looking at M arley's ghost
and does not see any intestines.
In the sentence It was ra in in g cats and dogs, and two k itte n s and
a puppy landed on m y window-sill (Chesterton) the fusion to ra in cats
and dogs is freshened by the introduction of kittens and a puppy,
which changes the u n m otivated com bination into a m etaphor w hich in
its tu rn is sustained.
The expression to save ones bacon m eans to escape from in ju r y or
loss. Byron in his Don J u a n decomposes this u n it by settin g it against
the word hog in its logical m eaning:
B ut here I say the Turks were much m istaken,
W ho h atin g hogs, yet w ishd to save their bacon."
Byron p artic u la rly favoured th e device of sim ultaneous m ateriali
zation of two m eanings: the m eaning of the whole set phrase and the in
dependent m eanings of its com ponents, w ith the result th a t the indepen
dent m eanings u n ite anew and give the whole a fresh significance.
H ere is a good exam ple of the effective use of this device. The poet
mocks at the absurd notion of idealists who deny the existence of every
kind of m atter w hatsoever:
W hen Bishop B erkley said: there was no m atter
A nd proved it twas no m a tter w hat he said.
(Byron)
190

PART V

SYNTACTICAL E X PR E S SIV E M EANS

A N D STYLISTIC DEVICES

A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

W ith in the language-as-a-system there establish them selves certain

definite types of relations between words, w ord-com binations, sentences
and also between larger spans of utterances. The branch of language science
which studies the types of relations between the u n its enum erated is
called s y n t a x .
In the dom ain of sy ntax, as has been ju stly pointed out by L. A. Bulakhovsky, it is difficult to distinguish between w'hat is purely gram m atical,
i. e. m arked as corresponding to the established norm s, and w'hat is
sty listic, i. e. showing some kind of vacillation of these norms. This
is 'p a rtic u la rly evident when we begin to analyse larger-than-the-sentence units.
G enerally speaking, the exam ination of syntax provides a deeper
insight into the sty listic aspect of utterances.
The stu d y of the sentence and its types and especially the study of
the relatio n s between different p arts of the sentence has had a long his
tory. R hetoric was m ainly engaged in the observation of the juxtaposition
of the members of the sentence and in finding ways and means of building
larger and more elaborate spans of utterance, as, for exam ple, the per od
or periodical sentence. Modern gram m ars have greatly extended the
scope of stru ctu ral analysis and have taken under observation the pecul
iarities of the relatio n s between the members of the sentence, which
somehow has overshadowed problem s connected w ith stru ctu ral and
sem antic p attern s of larger syntactical units. It would not be an exaggera
tion to state th a t th e study of units of speech larger than the sentence is
still being neglected by m any linguists. Some of them even consider such
u nits to be ex tralin g u istic, thus excluding them en tirely from the dom ain
of linguistics.
S ty listics takes as the object of its analysis the expressive means and
sty listic devices of the language which are based on some significant struc
tu ral p oint in an utterance, w'hether it consists of one sentence or a string
of sentences. In gram m ar certain types of utterances have already been
patterned; thus, for exam ple, we have all kinds of sim ple, compound or
complex sentences, even a paragraph long, th at m ay be regarded as neu
tral or non-sty listic patterns.
A t the sam e tim e, the peculiarities of the stru ctu ral design of u tte r
ances which bear some p artic u la r em otional colouring, th a t is, which

191

are stylistic and therefore non-neutral, m ay also be patterned and pre

sented as a special system .
S ty listic syntactical p attern s m ay be viewed as \a ria n ts of the general
sy n tactical models of the language and are th e more obvious and conspic
uous if presented not as isolated elem ents or accidental usages, but as
groups easily observable and lending them selves to generalization.
This idea is expressed by G. O. V inokur in his
where he m aintains th at in syntax it is no new m aterial
th at is coined, but new relations, because the sy ntactical aspect of speech
is nothing more th an a definite com bination of gram m atical forms, and
in this sense the actual words used are essentially im m aterial. Therefore
syntactical relations, p articu larly in poetic language, are th a t aspect of
speech in which ev erything presents itself as actualization of the poten
tia l and not merely the repetition of the read y -m ad e.1
By th e p o ten tial" G. Vinokur apparently m eans variations of syn
tactica l patterns.
It follows, therefore, th at in order to establish the perm issible fluc
tu atio n s of the sy ntactical norm , it is necessary to ascertain what is
m eant by the sy n tactical norm itself. As a m atter of fact any change in
th e re la tiv e positions of the members of the sentence m ay be regarded
as a v arian t of the received standard, provided th at the relation between
them w ill not hinder the understanding of the utterance.
B ut here we are faced w ith the indisputable interdependence between
form and content; in other words, between the syntactical design of
th e utterance and its concrete lexical m aterialization.
S y ntactical relations can be studied in isolation from sem antic con
ten t. In this case th ey are viewed as constituents of the whole and assume
th eir independent gram m atical m eaning. This is most apparent in forms
em bodying nonsense lexical units, as in Lewis C arrolls famous lines,
so often quoted by linguitsts.
Twas brilling, and
D id gyre and gim bol
All m imsy were the
A nd the mome ra th s

the slith y toves

in the wabe:
borogroves.
outgrabe.

The stru ctu ral elem ents of these lines stand out conspicuously and
m ake sense even though they are m aterialized by nonsense elem ents.
Moreover, they impose on the morphemes they are attached to a definite
gram m atical m eaning m aking it possible to class the units. So it is due to
these elem ents th a t we can sta te w hat the nonsense words are supposed to
m ean. Thus, we know th a t the sequence of the forms forcibly suggests
th a t after twas we should have an adjective; th e in slithy m akes the
word an adjective; gyre after the em phatic did can only be a verb. We
know th a t th is is a poem because it has rhythm (iam bic tetram eter) and
rhym e (abab in 'toves borogroves; wabeoutgrabe).
A closer exam ination of the structural elem ents w ill show th a t they
outnum ber th e sem antic units: nineteen stru ctu ral elem ents and eleven
1 See: . . . ., 1943, . 15 16.

192

w hich are m eant to be sem antic. The following inferences m ay be drawn

from this fact:
< ,. f
1) it is the stru ctu ral elem ent of the utterance th a t predeterm ines
the possible sem antic aspect;
2) the stru ctu ral elem ents have their own independent m eaning which
may be called stru ctu ral or, more w idely, gram m atical;
3) the stru ctu ral m eaning may affect the lexical, giving contextual
m eaning to some of th e lexical units.
B. PROBLEMS CONCERNING THE COMPOSITION OF SPANS
OF UTTERANCE LARGER THAN THE SENTENCE

In recent years a new theory concerning the inner relations between

context and form w ithin the sentence has appeared. This theory, elabo
rated by S. H arris, M. P ostal and others, is called G enerative
G ram m ar. It m ain tain s th a t gram m ar m ust not only describe the
laws which regulate the functioning of linguistic units but m ust also
be capable of generating new sentences.
A gram m ar of this k ind, w rites Jo h n Lyons, is pred ictiv e in
th a t it establishes as gram m atical, not only a c tu a l sentences, but also
p o ten tial sentences. 1
The reference to Lyonss statem ent has direct bearing on the problems
of sty listic syntax. The fact is, as will be seen later, th a t any one of the
syntactical SDs is capable of generating an unlim ited num ber of senten
ces w ith in the given p attern . However, according to orthodox generative
gram m ar, some of them are regarded as ill-form ed and even ungram
m atical inasm uch as they fail to meet the requirem ents of the basic
(kernel) structures.
The theory further m aintains th a t there are two kinds of structures
a deep structure and a surface structure. The latter are the actual senten
ces produced by th e former, which is not presented in language u n its and
therefore unobservable.
M ention of this theory is m ade here, firstly, because in m odern sty
listics attem p ts are being m ade to build up a gram m ar which would
generate deviant constructions and thus broaden the lim its of th e wellform ed sentences which are regarded as the only ones th a t are gram m at
ic a l. A nother reason is th a t transform ation one of the basic methods
em ployed in generative gram m ars, is very effectively used in stylistics
when it is necessary to find the sty listic m eaning of this or th a t sentence
structu re. A th ird reason is th a t generative gram m ars aim a t reconstruct
ing the processes connected w ith the form ation of sentences. This has
direct bearing on the in terp retatio n of syntactical SDs and p artic u la rly
on th eir linguistic nature.
This theory enables the interpreter to look a t a sentence from the point
of view of w hat is beh ind the sentence.
As J . P . Thorne states, G enerative gram m ar is im portant to sty list
ics because in ad d itio n to these surface stru ctu re facts, it is concerned
156.
7

1 Lyons, John. Introduction to Theoretical L inguistics. Cam bridge, 1971, pp. 155

JV 2376

193

w ith the so-called deep stru ctu re aspects of language, th at is, those
facts about linguistic structure which cannot be directly related to w hat
can be observed. Most sty listic judgem ents re la te to deep structure. 1
It follows then th a t the so-called generative gram m ar is not so strik
ingly new. This is also noted by the well-known linguists Jo h n Lyons
and D. Bolinger,'- who state positively th a t there is nothing new in the
theory of generative gram m ar.
A nother developm ent in linguistics also having direct bearing on the
problem s which concern us when dealing w ith syntactical SDs, is textlinguistics, as it is called. This developm ent, which as yet has not been
formed as a separate theory, aims at investigating the objective criteria
concerning ways and means of constructing texts of different kinds and
gen res.3
For this purpose it is first of all necessary to find the elem ents into
which any tex t m ay fall. In other words, there m ust be certain constituent
units of which any tex t is composed.
Phonemes, the sm allest language units, function w ithin morphemes
and are dependent on them , morphemes function w ithin words, words
w ithin sentences, and sentences function in larger structural frames
which we shall call supra-phrasal units. C onsequently, neither words
nor separate sentences can be regarded as the basic constituents of a
tex t. They are the basic units of lower levels of language-as-a-system , as
is shown above.
Supra-Phrasal Units
The term s u p r a - p h r a s a l u n i t (SPU) is used to denote a
larger u n it th an a sentence. It generally comprises a num ber of sentences
interdependent stru ctu rally (usually by means of pronouns, connectives,
tense-forms) and sem antically (one definite thought is dealt w ith). Such
a span of utterance is also characterized by the fact th a t it can be ex tra ct
ed from th e context w ithout losing its relativ e sem antic independence.
This cannot be said of the sentence, w'hich, w'hile representing a complete
syntactical u n it, m ay, how'ever, lack the qu ality of independence. A sen
tence from the sty listic point of view does not necessarily express one
idea, as it is defined in most m anuals of gram m ar. It m ay express only
p art of one idea. Thus the sentence: Guy glanced at his w ifes untouched
plate, if taken out of the context, will be perceived as a p art of a larger
span of u tteran ce where the situation wdll be m ade clear and the purport
of verbal expression more complete.
H ere is the com plete SPU.
Guy glanced at his wdfes untouched plate.
If youve finished, we m ight stroll down I think you ought to
be startin g .
1 Thorne, J. P. G enerative Gram m ar and S ty listic A nalysis. In: New Horizons
in Linguistics , Ldn, 1971, p. 189.
2 See: Lyons, John. Introduction. In: New H orizons in Linguistics , Ldn, 1971,
p. 24; Bolinger, D . The A tom ization of Meaning. Language", 1965, vol. 41, 4, p. 555.
3 See: . P. . , 1974, 6 .

194

She did not answer. She rose from the table. She went into her
room to see th a t nothing had been forgotten and then side by side with
him w alked down the steps. (Somerset M augham)
The next sentence of the paragraph begins: A little w inding p a th ...
This is obviously the beginning of the next SPU . So a supra-phrasal unit
m ay be defined as a combination of sentences presenting a structural and
semantic unity backed up by rhythmic and melodic unity. A ny SPU
w ill lose its u n ity if it suffers breaking.
B ut w hat are the principles on which the singling out of an SPU can
be m ain tain ed '4 In order to give an answer to this question, it is first
of all necessary to deepen our understanding of the term u t t e r a n c e .
As a sty listic term the word u tteran ce m ust be expanded. Any utterance
from a sty listic point of view will serve to denote a certain span of speech
(language-in-action) in which we m ay observe coherence, interdepend
ence of the elem ents, one definite idea, and last but not least, the p u r
port of th e w riter.
The p urport is the aim th a t the w riter sets before him self, which
is to m ake the desired im pact on the reader. So the aim of any utterance
is a carefully thought-out im pact. S yntactical un its are connected to
achieve th e desired effect and it is often by the m anner they are connected
th a t the desired effect is secured.
Let us take the following paragraph for analysis:
I. B ut a day or two later the doctor was not feeling well. 2. He
had an internal m alady th a t troubled him now and then, but ha was
used to it and disinclined to talk about it. 3. W hen he had one of his
attack s, he only w anted to be left alone. 4. H is cabin was sm all and
stuffy, so he settled him self on a long chair on deck and lay w ith his eyes
closed. 5. Miss R eid was w alking up and down to get the half hours
exercise she took m orning and evening. 6. H e thought th a t if he pre
tended to be asleep she would not disturb him . 7. B ut when she had
passed him half a dozen tim es she stopped in front of him an d stood
quite still. 8. Though he kept his eyes closed he knew th a t she was
looking a t him . (Somerset M augham)
This paragraph consists of eight sentences, all more or less independ
ent. The first three sentences, however, show a considerable degree of
sem antic interdependence. This can be inferred from the use of the
following cluster of concepts associated w ith each other: not feeling
w ell, internal m alady, one of his atta c k s. Each phrase is the key to
the sentence in which it occurs. There are no formal connectives, the con
nection is made apparent by purely sem antic means. These three senten
ces co n stitu te an SPU b u ilt w ithin the larger framework of th e paragraph.
The fourth sentence is sem antically independent of the preceding three.
It seems at first glance not to belong to the paragraph a t all. The fact th at
the doctors cabin was sm all and stuffy and th a t he settled him self...
on deck does not seem to be necessarily connected w ith the thought ex
pressed in the preceding SPU . B ut on a more careful analysis one can
7*

195

clearly see how all four sentences are ac tu ally interconnected. The link
ing sentence is he only wanted to be left alone. So the words lay with
his eyes closed w ith which the fourth sentence ends are sem antically
connected both w ith the idea of being left alone and w ith the idea ex
pressed in th e sentence: He thought th a t if he pretended to be asleep she
would not d isturb h im . B ut between this sentence and its sem antic
links lay w ith his eyes closed and w anted to be left alone, the sentence
about Miss R eid th ru sts itself in. This is not irrelevant to the whole
situ atio n and to the purport of the w riter, who leads us to understand th at
th e doctor was disinclined to talk to anybody and probably to Miss Reid
in p articular.
So the whole of the paragraph has therefore sem antic and structural
wholeness. It can, however, be sp lit into two SPU s w ith a linking sen
tence between them . Sentence 5 can be regarded as an SPU , inasm uch as
it enjoys considerable independence both sem antically and structurally.
Sentences 6, 7 and 8 are stru ctu rally and therefore sem antically in ter
woven. B u t when and though in the seventh and eighth sentences are the
stru ctu ral elem ents which link all three sentences into one SPU.
It follows then th a t an SPU can be em bodied in a sentence if the sen
tence meets the requirem ents of this com positional u n it. Most epigram s
are SPU s from the point of view of their sem antic u n ity , though they
fail to meet th e general structural requirem ent, viz. to be represented
in a num ber of sentences.
On the other hand, an SPU , though usually a com ponent part of the
paragraph, m ay occupy the whole of the paragraph. In this case we say
th a t the SPU coincides w ith the paragraph.
It is im portant to point out th a t th is structural u n it, in its p articu lar
w ay of arranging ideas, belongs alm ost exclusively to the belles-lettres
style, though it m ay be m et w ith to some extent in the publicistic style.
Of her styles, judging by their recognized leading features, do not require
this mode of arranging the parts of an utterance except in rare cases
which m ay be neglected.
Let us take a passage from another piece of belles-lettres style, a
paragraph from A ld in gtons D eath of a H e ro
It is a paragraph easy to subm it to sty listic and sem antic analysis:
it falls n atu ra lly into several SPUs.
"I. After dinner they sat about and smoked. 2. George took his
chair over to the open window and looked down on the lights and
movement of P iccadilly. 3. The noise of the traffic was lulled by the
height to a long continuous rum ble. 4. The placards of the evening
papers along the railings beside the R itz were sensational and bellicose.
5. The p arty dropped the subject of a possible great war; after decid
ing th at there w ouldnt be one, there couldnt. 6. George, who had
great faith in Mr. B obbes political acum en, glanced through his last
article, and took great comfort from the fact th at Bobble said there
w asnt going to be a war. 7. It was all a scare, a stock m arket ram p...
8. At th a t m om ent three or four people came in, more or less together,
196

though they were in separate parties. 9. One of them was a youngish

m an in im m aculate evening dress. 10. As he shook hands w ith his host,
George heard him say ra th e r excitedly,
Ive ju st been dining w ith ...
A nalysis of this paragraph will show how com plicated the com posi
tion of belles-lettres Syntactical u n its i.-. There is no doubt th at there
is a definite sem antic unity in the paragraph The main idea is the anxi
ety and un certain ty of English moiety before W orld W ar I as to whether
there would be, or would not be a war. But around this m ain senseaxis there centre a num ber of untlerances which present more or less in
dependent spans of thought. Thus, we can ea ily single out the group
of sentences which begins w ith the words \fte r d in n er and ends with
...an d bellicose. This part of the tex t presents, as it were, the back
ground against which the purport of the author stands out more clearly,
th e last sentence of this SPU preparing the reader for the m ain idea of
th e p arag ra p h --th e possibility of w ar- which is em bodied in the next
supra-phrasal u n it. This -jcond SPU begins w ith the words The party
dropped the subject of a possibie great w ar and ends w ith ...a stock
m arket ra m p .... It i mdv stru tm ully independent Lv the introduction
of elem ents of uttered represented
eh . p. " , the contractions
w ouldn't, couldn't. wusn'l, the pureiy ollcquial syntactical design there
w ouldn't hi one. tlure couldn't, the colloquial word .cure.
The shift to the third SPU is indicated by the dots after the word
ramp ( ...) . H ere ag in it is the author who speak , there ire no further
elem ents of represented speech, the shift being rath er ab ru p t, because
Georges thoughts were in teiru p ted by the entrance of the neweomers.
The connecting A t Lhat m om ent softens the abruptness.
The a u th o r's purport grows apparent through the in terrelatio n
an interrelation which seems to be organic between the three SPUs:
sensational and bellicose placards in the streets of London, the anxiety
of the people at the p arty , the conviction backed up by such a reassuring
argum ent as Mr Bobbes article th at there was not going to be a wer,
and the new guests bringing unexpected news.
SPU s are not aw \a \s so easily discernible as they are in this paragraph
from The D eath of a Hero". Due to individual peculiarities in com bining
ideas into a graphical (and th at means both syntactical and sem antic)
un ity , there may be considerable \a rie ty in the arrangem ent of SPUs
and of paragraph. - ranging from w hat m ight be called clearly-m arked
borderlines between the supra-phrasal u n it to alm ost im perceptible se
m antic shifts. Indeed, it is often from m aking a com parison between
the beginning mid the end of a paragraph th at one can infer th a t it con
tain s separal SPUs.
It fo llo w then th at the paragraphs in the belles-lettres prose style
do not necessarily possess the qualities of u n ity and coherence as is
the case w ith paragraphs in other styles of speech and p artic u la rly in
the scientific prose style.
SPU s are to be found in particu lar in poetical style. H ere the SPUs,
as well as the paragraphs, are em bodied in stanzas. Due to the most

197

typical sem antic property of any poetical work, viz. brevity of expres
sion, there arises the need to com bine ideas to th a t seemingly independent
utterances m ay be integrated into one poetical u n ity , viz. a stanza.
Let us take for analysis the following stanza from S helleys poem
The Cloud:
I bring fresh showers for the th irstin g flowers
From the seas and the stream s;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In th eir noon-day dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews th a t waken
The sweet buds every one,
W hen rocked to rest on their m others breast,
As she dances about the sun.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail.
A nd w hiten the green plains under;
And then again I dissolve it in rain ,
A nd laugh as I pass in thunder.
H ere there are three SPU s separated by full stops.
W ithin the first, which comprises four lines, there are two m oreor
lessindependent units divided by a semicolon and integrated by p a ra l
lel constructions (I bring fresh showers-, I bear light shade).
W ith in the second SPU also four linesthere are also two in ter
dependent ideas the buds awakened by the dews and the earth m oving
around the sun. These are strongly bound together by the formal ele
m ents when and as form ing one complex sentence and an SPU . The for
mal means used to connect different spans of utterance affect their sem an
tic integrity.
The three SPU s of the stanza are united by one idea the usefulness
of the cloud giving all kind of comfort, here m oisture and shade, to w hat
is grow ing... showers, shade, dews, hail, rain.
The SPU s in sonnets are especially m anifest. This is due to their
stric t stru ctu ral and sem antic rules of com position.
The Paragraph
A p a r a g r a p h is a graphical term used to nam e a group of sen
tences m arked off by indentation at the beginning and a break in the line
at the end. B ut th is graphical term has come to mean a d istin ct portion
of a w ritten discourse showing an internal unity. As a linguistic category
the paragraph is a unit of utterance m arked off by purely linguistic
means: in to n atio n , pauses of various lengths, sem antic ties which can
be disclosed by scrupulous analysis of the m orphological aspect and
m eaning of the com ponent parts, etc. It has already been stated elsewhere
th a t the logical aspect of an utterance will alw ays be backed up by purely
linguistic means causing, as it were, an indivisible u n ity of extralinguistic and in tralin g u istic approach.
B earing th is in m ind, we shall not draw a m ark of dem arcation
between the logical and the linguistic analysis of an utterance, because
198

th e paragraph is a linguistic expression of a logical, pragm atic and aesthet

ic arrangem ent of thought.
P aragraph stru ctu re is not always b uilt on logical principles alone,
as is generally the case in the style of scientific prose. In the building
of paragraphs in new spaper style, other requirem ents are taken into
consideration, for instance, psychological principles, in p articu lar the
sensational effect of the com m unication and the grasping capacity
of th e reader for quick reading. Considerations of space also play an im
p o rtan t p art. T his latter consideration som etim es overrules the neces
sity for logical arrangem ent and results in breaking the m ain rule of
paragraph building, i.e. the u n ity of idea. Thus, a brief note containing
inform ation about an oil trea ty is cram m ed into one sentence, it being,
in its tu rn , a paragraph:
The revised version of an international oil trea ty is to-day before
th e Senate R elation C om m ittee, which recently m ade it clear th at the
Anglo-Am erican oil tre a ty negotiated last August would not reach
the Senate floor for ra tific atio n , because of objections by the American
oil in d ustry to it.
P arag rap h b u ild in g in the style of official docum ents is m ainly
governed by the p articu lar conventional forms of docum ents (charters,
pacts, diplom atic docum ents, business letters, legal docum ents and
the like). H ere paragraphs m ay som etim es em body w hat are gram m ati
cally called a num ber of parallel clauses, which for the sake' of the whole
ness of the en tire docum ent are made form ally subordinate, whereas
in re a lity they are independent item s. (See exam ples in the chapter on
official sty le, p. 313.)
P aragraph structure in the belles-lettres and publicistic styles is
strongly affected by the purport of the author. To secure the desired
im pact, a w riter finds it necessary to give details and illustrations, to
introduce com parisons and contrasts, to give additional reasons and,
finaly, to expand the topic by looking at it from different angles and
paraphrasing the idea. He m ay, especially in the publicistic style, intro
duce the testim ony of some a u th o rity on the subject and even deviate
from the m ain topic by recounting an anecdote or even a short story to
ease m ental effort and facilitate understanding of the com m unication.
The length of a paragraph norm ally varies from eight to twelve
sentences. The longer the paragraph is, the more difficult it is to fol
low the p urport of the w riter. In new spaper style, however, most p ara
graphs consist of one or perhaps two or three sentences.
Paragraphs of a purely logical type m ay be analysed from the way
th e thought of th e w riter develops. A ttem pts have been made to classify
paragraphs from th e point of view of the logical sequence of the sentences.
Thus, in m anuals on the art of com position there are models of paragraphs
b u ilt on different principles:
1) from the general to the p articu lar, or from the p articu lar to the
general;
2) on the inductive or deductive principle;
3) from cause to effect, or from effect to cause;
199

4) on contrast, or com parison.

So the paragraph is a com positional device aim ed either at fa c ilita t
ing the process of apprehending w hat is w ritten, or inducing a certain
reaction on the part of the reader. This reaction is generally achieved
by in ten tio n ally grouping the ideas so as to show their interdepend
ence or interrelation. T hat is why the paragraph, from a mere com po
sitional device, tu rn s into a stylistic one. It discloses the w rite rs m an
ner of depicting th e features of the object or phenom enon described. It
is in the paragraph th at the m ain function of the belles-lettres style
becomes most ap p arent, the m ain function, as will be shown below,
being aesthetico-cognitive and pragm atic.
In the paragraph from the D eath of a Hero, as we saw, there are
three SPU s which together constitute one paragraph. If we were to
convert the passage into one of the m atter-of-fact styles it would be neces
sary to split it into three paragraphs. But A ldington found it necessary
to combine all the sentences into one paragraph, evidently seeing closer
connections between the p arts th an there would be in a mere im person
al. less em otional account of the events described.
The paragraph in styles, such as scientific, publicistic and
some others, generally has a t o p i c s e n t e n c e , i.e. a sentence
which em bodies the m ain idea of the paragraph or which may be in ter
preted as a key-sentence disclosing the chief thought of the w riter. In logi
cal prose the topic sentence is, as a rule, placed either at the beginning or
at the end of th e paragraph, depending on the logical p attern on which
the paragraph is built. In the belles-lettres style the topic sentence m ay be
placed in any part of the paragraph. It w ill depend on how the w riter
seeks to achieve his effect.
Thus in the paragraph w'e have been referring to, the topic sentence
(The p arty dropped the subject of a possible great war, after deciding
th at there w ouldnt be one, there couldnt ) is placed in the m iddle of
the paragraph. The parts that precede and follow the topic sentence
correspondingly lead to it (the p laca rd s...) and develop it (George,
w h o ...). The topic sentence itself, being based on uttered represented
speech, is sty listically a very effective device to show th at the conclu
sion (no war) w'as not based on sound logical argum ent, but merely on
the sm all talk of the p arty (there w ouldnt , there couldnt ).
However, paragraph building in belles-lettres prose generally lacks
u n ity , inasm uch as it is governed by other than logical principles, two
of the requirem ents being em otiveness and a natural representation of
the situ atio n depicted. Hence it is som etim es impossible to decide which
sentence should be regarded as the topic one. Each SPU of several com
bined into one paragraph m ay have its own topic sentence or be a topic
sentence. In o th er words, there are no topic sentences in em otive prose as
a rule, though there may be some paragraphs with one due to the pre
valence of the logical elem ent over the emotional or the aesthetic.
In publicistic style paragraphs are b u ilt on m ore apparent logical
principles, th is style being interm ediate between the belles-lettres and the
scientific style. Let us subject to sty listic an ah sis the following p ara
graph from M acaulays essay on O liver Goldsmith:
200

W hile G oldsm ith was w ritin g The Deserted V illage and She
Stoops to C onquer, he was em ployed in works of a very different
kind, works from which he derived little rep u tatio n but much prof
it. He com piled for the use of schools a History of R om e, by which
he m ade 300; a History of E ngland, by which he m ade 600;
a H istory of Greece, for which he received 250; a N atural H isto
ry , for which the book-sellers covenanted to pay him 800 guineas.
These works he produced w ithout a m elaborate research, by merely
selecting, abridging and tran slatin g into his own clear, pure, and
flowing language w hat he found in books well know n to the world,
bu t too bulky or too dry for boys and girls. He com m itted some strange
blunders; for he knew nothing w ith accuracy. Thus in his H istory
of E n g lan d he tells us th at Naseby is in Yorkshire; nor did he correct
th is m istake when the book was reprinted. He was nearly hoaxed into
p u ttin g into the H istory of Greece an account of a b attle between
A lexander the G reat and M ontezum a. In his A nim ated N ature he re
lates, w'ith faith and w ith perfect g ra v ity , all the m ost absurd lies
which he could find in books of travels about gigantic P atagonians,
m onkeys th a t preach sermons, nightingales th a t repeat long con
versations. If he can tell a horse from a cow, said Johnson, th at
is the extent of his knowledge of zoology. How little G oldsm ith
wras qualified to w rite about the physical sciences is sufficiently
proved by two anecdotes. He on one occasion denied th a t the sun is
longer in the northern than in the southern signs. It was vain to cite
the au th o rity of M aupertuis. M aupertuis! he cried; I understand
those m atters b etter than M aupertuis. On another occasion he, in
defiance of the evidence of his own senses m aintained obstinately,
and even angrily, th a t he chewed his dinner by m oving his upper jaw.
Y et, ignorant as G oldsm ith was, few w riters have done more
to m ake the first steps in the laborious road to knowledge easy and
p le a sa n t...

The topic sentence of th is paragraph is placed a t the beginning. It

consists of two ideas presented in a complex sentence w ith a subordi
nate clause of tim e. The idea of the topic sentence is em bodied in the
m ain clause which states th at G oldsm ith derived little reputation
but much p ro fit out of some of his works. The subordinate clause of
tim e is used here as a linking sentence between the preceding paragraph
w hich deals w ith The Deserted V illage a n j She Stoops to Conquer
and the one under scrutiny.
t h e next paragraph of the passage, as the reader has undoubtedly
observed, begins w ith a new topic sentence and is b u ilt on the same
stru ctu ral m odel: the subordinate clause sums up the idea of the pre
ceding paragraph fYet. ignorant as G oldsm ith w as), and the m ain
clause introduces, a new idea. This p a tte rn is m aintained throughout
th e essay and. by the w ay, in most of M acaulay's essays. This easy, flow
ing m anner of exposition has a high degree of p red ictab ility . The
201

reader, having read the first sentence and being conscious of the au
th o rs m anner of building paragraphs, will not fail to grasp the gist of
the passage at once.
It is interesting to point o u t how M acaulay develops the idea ex
pressed in the topic sentence. H e wished to show' why G oldsm ith derived
1) little re p u ta tio n and 2) m uch p ro fit from certain of his works. Of the
two, M acaulay considers the form er to be undoubtedly more significant
than the latter. That is why he begins w'ith insignificant detailsenu
m eratin g G oldsm ith's profits, and then devotes all the rest of the para
graph to instances of G oldsm iths ignorance.
A paragraph in certain styles is a dialogue (w'ith the reader) in the
form of a monologue. The breaking-up of a piece of w riting into p ara
graphs can be regarded as an expression of consideration for the reader
on the part of the author. It m anifests itself in the au th o rs being aware
of lim its in the readers capacity for perceiving and absorbing inform a
tion. Therefore paragraphs in m atter-of-fact styles, as in scientific prose,
official docum ents and so on, are clear, precise, logically coherent, and
possess u n ity , i.e. express one m ain thought. P aragraphs in em otive
prose are com binations of the logical and the em otional. The aim of
the au th o r in breaking up the narrativ e into paragraphs is not only to
fa cilitate understanding but also for em phasis. T hat is w'hy paragraphs
in the belles-lettres prose are som etim es b u ilt on contrast or on clim ax,
as is the paragraph from A C hristm as C arol by Dickens, quoted on
p. 221.
The paragraph as a unit of utterance, is so far entirely the dom ain
of stylistics. Yet there are obvious features of a purely syntactical char
acter in the paragraph w'hich m ust not be overlooked T hat is wTiy there
is every reason to study the paragraph in syntax of the language W'here
not only the sentence b u t also larger units of com m unication should be
under observation. T his w'ould come under w'hat we m ay call the m ac
ro-syntax of the language.

C. COMPOSITIONAL PATTERNS OF SYNTACTICAL ARRANGEMENT

t

The stru ctu ral syntactical aspect is som etim es regarded as the crucial
issue in sty listic analysis, although the peculiarities of syntactical a r
rangem ent are not so conspicuous as the lexical and phraseological prop
erties of the utterance. S yntax is figuratively called the sinew's
of style.
S t r u c t u r a l s y n t a c t i c a l s t y l i s t i c d e v i c e s are
in special relatio n s wi t h the intonation involved. Prol. Peshkovsky
points out th a t there is an interdependence between tlpe intonation and
syn tactical properties of the sentence, which m ay be worded in the fol
lowing m anner: the more explicitly the structural syntactical relations
are expressed, the weaker will be the into n atio n -p attern of the utterance
(to com plete disappearance) and vice-versa, the stronger the intonation,
the weaker grow' the evident syntactical relations (also to com plete
202

disappearance) l . This can be illustrated by means of the following two

pairs of sentences: Only after dinner did I make up my mind to go there
and *I made up my mind to go there only after dinner.' *I t was in Bucharest
that the Xth International Congress of Linguists took place andThe
Xth International Congress of Linguists took place in Bucharest.
The second sentences in these pairs can be made emphatic only by
intonation; the first sentences are made emphatic by means of the syn
tactical patterns: Only after dinner did I ... and 'It was... th at...
The problem of syntactical stylistic devices appears to be closely
linked not only with what makes an utterance more emphatic but also
with the more general problem of predication. As is known, the English
affirmative sentence is regarded as neutral if it maintains the regular
word-order, i.e. subject predicateobject (or other secondary mem
bers of the sentence, as they are called). Any other order of the parts of
the sentence may also carry the necessary information, but the impact
on the reader will be different. Even a slight change in the word-order
of a sentence or in the order of the sentences in a more complicated syn
tactical unit will inevitably cause a definite modification of the mean
ing of the whole. An almost imperceptible rhythmical design intro
duced into a prose sentence, or a sudden break in the sequence of the
parts of the sentence, or any other change will add something to the vol
ume of information contained in the original sentence.
Unlike the syntactical expressive means of the language, which are
naturally used in discourse in a straight-forward natural manner, syn
tactical stylistic devices are perceived as elaborate designs aimed at
having a definite impact on the reader. It will be borne in mind that
any SD is meant to be understood as a device and is calculated to pro
duce a desired stylistic effect.
When viewing the stylistic functions of different syntactical designs
we must first of all take into consideration two aspects:
1. The juxtaposition of different parts of the utterance.
2. The way the parts are connected with each other.
In addition to these two large groups of EMs and SDs two other
groups may be distinguished:
3. Those based on the peculiar use of colloquial constructions.
4. Those based on the stylistic use of structural meaning.

Stylistic Inversion

W or d-o r de r is a crucial syntactical problem in many languages.

In English it has peculiarities which have been caused by the concrete
and specific way the language has developed. O. Jespersen states that
the English language ...has developed a tolerably fixed word-order
which in the great majority of cases shows without fail what is the Sub
ject of the sentence.8 This tolerably fixed word-order is Subject
Verb (Predicate) Object (SP0 ). Further, Jespersen mentions
1 . . .
. ., 1928, . 1. . 2, . 463.
9 Jespersen, . Essentials of English Grammar. Ldn, 1943, p. 99.

203

a statistical investigation of word-order made on the basis of a series of

reprt e n ta ti.e 19th century w riters. It was found th a t the order
P wa-' used in from 82 to 97 per cent of all sentences containing all
three members, w hile the percentage for Beowulf was 16 and for King
A lfre. pr.oc 40.
>>
Thi: predom inance of SP word-order m akes conspicuous any
change in the stru cture of the sentence and inevitably calls forth a m od
ification in the in to n ation tlesign.
'
*
The most conspicuous places in the sentence are considered to be the
first and the last: the first place because the full force of the stress can
be felt at the beginning of an utterance and the last place because there
is a pause after it. T his traditional word-order had developed a definite
intonation design. Through frequency of repetition this design has
imposed itself on any sentence even though there are changes introduced
in the sequence of the com ponent parts. Hence the clash between sem an
tically insignificant elem ents of the sentence when they are placed in
structurally significant position and the intonation which follows the
recognized pattern .
Thus in D ickens m uch quoted sentence:
Talent Mr. M icawber has; capital Mr. Micawber h as not.
The first and the last positions being prom inent, the verb has and
the negative not get a fuller volum e of stress than they w ould in ord in a
ry (uninverted) word-order. In the trad itio n al word-order the predicates
has and has not are closely attached to their objects talent and capital.
English predicate-object groups are so bound to g e th e r1 th a t when "we
tear th e object aw ay from its predicate, the latter rem ains dangling in
the sentence and in th is position som etim es calls forth a change in m ean
ing of the predicate word. In the inverted word-order not o n ly the objects
talent and capital become conspicuous but also the predicates has and
has not.
. ri r ,
In this exam ple the effect of the inverted word-order is backed up
by two o th er sty listic devices: antithesis and parallel construction. U nlike
gram m atical inversion, sty listic inversion does not change the stru c tu r
al m eaning of the sentence, th at is, the change in the ju x ta p o sitio n of
the m em bers of jthe sentence does not indicate structural m eaning but
has some su p efttfu ctu ral function. S t y l i s t i c i n v e r s i o n _ai tis
a t attach in g lo g i 1 stress nr additional emotional c o lo u rim to the sun"
face""meaning of the, u tterance. Therefore a specific intonat]oT lfpattern

-----is the i-1c^ntrTlTte ol inversm n.

- ^ ------ ^
S ty listic inversion in Modern~~English should not be regarded as a
vio latio n of the norm s of standard E nglish. It is only the practical
realizatio n of w hat is potential in the language itself.
The following p attern s of sty listic inversion are most freq u en tly m et
in both English prose and English poetry.
1.
The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence <see the exam
ple above).
1 See: . H . ! .
. , , 1947, . 6.

2. The a ttrib u te is plated after the \yord it m odifies (postposition

of the attrib u te ). This model is often used when there is more than one
a ttrib u te , for exam ple:
W ith fingers weary and w orn... (Thomas Hood)
Once upon a m idnight dreary..." (E. A. Poe)
3. a) The predicative is placed before the subject, as in
A good generous prayer it w as. (Mark Twain)
or b) the predicative stands before the link-verb and both are placed
before the subject, as in
Rude am / in my speech... (Shakespeare)
4. T he ad v erb ial m odifier is placed a t th e beginning of th e sen
tence, as in:
Eagerly / wished the m orrow . (Poe)
My dearest daughter, at your feet I fa ll. (Dryden)
A tone of most extraordinary comparison Miss Tox said it in.
(Dickens)
5. B oth m odifier and predicate stand before the subject, as in:
In went Mr. P ickw ick. (Dickens)
Down dropped the breeze... (ColeriJge)
These five m odels com prise the m ost common and recognized m od
els of inversion.
However, in m odern English and Am erican poetry, as has been shown
elsewhere, there appears a definite tendency to experim ent w ith the
word-order to the extent which m ay even render the message u nintelligi
ble. In th is case there m ay be an alm ost unlim ited num ber of rearrange
m ents of the m em bers of the sentence.
Inversion as a sty listic device is alw ays sense-m otivated. There is
a tendency to account for inversion in poetry by rhythm ical consider
ations. This m ay som etim es be true, but really talented poets w ill never
sacrifice sense for form and in the m ajority of cases inversion in poetry
is called forth by considerations of content rather th an rhythm .
Inverted word-order, or inversion, is one of the forms of w hat are
known as em phatic constructions. W hat is generally called traditional
word-order is n o th in g more th an unem phatic construction. E m phatic
constructions have so far been regarded as non-typical structures and
therefore are considered as violations
the regular word order in the
sentence. B ut in practice these structures are as common as the fixed
or trad itio n al w ord-order structures. Therefore inversion m ust be re
garded as an expressive m eans of the language having typical structural
models.
Detached Construction
^ Som etim es one of the secondary p arts of a sentence by some specific
consideration of the w riter is placed so th a t it seems form ally independ

205

ent of the word it logically refers to. Such p arts of structures are called
d e t a c h e d . They seem to dangle in the sentence as isolated parts.
The detached p ^ rt, being lorn away fronj j t s referent, assumes a
greater degree of 'significance and is given prom inence by intonation.
The stru ctu ral p attern s of detached constructions have not yet been
classified, but the m ost noticeable cases are those in which an a ttr i
bu te or an adverbial m odifier is placed not in im m ediate p roxim ity to
its referent, but in some other position, as in the follow ing exam ples:
1) Steyne rose up, grinding his teeth, pale, and with fu ry in his eyes.
(Thackeray)
2) Sir P itt came in first, very much flushed, and rather unsteady in
his g ait." (Thackeray)
Som etim es a nom inal phrase is thrown into the sentence form ing
a syntactical un it w ith the rest of the sentence, as in:
And he walked slowly past again, along the riveran evening
of clear, quiet beauty, a ll harmony and comfort, except w ith in his
h ea rt. (Galsworthy)
^T he essential q u ality of detached construction lies in the fact th at
the isolated p arts represent a kind of independent w'hole thrust into
the sentence or placed in a position which will m ake the phrase (or w'ord)
seem independent. B ut a detached phrase cannot rise to the rank of
a prim ary m em ber of the sentence it alw ays rem ains secondary from
the sem antic point of view, although stru ctu rally it possesses all the fea
tures of a p rim ary m em ber. This clash 6f thg s^ruc|yiral and sem antic
aspects of detached constructions produces thexleSirfed effectforcing the
reader to in terpret the logical connections between the com ponent p arts
of the sentence. Logical ties betw'een them alw ays exist in spite of the
absence of syntactical indicators.
D etached constructions in th^b" <$>mmon forms make the w ritten
variety of language ak in to th # spoken variety where the relatio n be
tween the com ponent parts is effectively m aterialized by m eans of in to
nation. D etached construction, as it were, becomes a peculiar device
bridging the norm s of w ritten and spoken language.
T T h is sty listic device is akin to inversion. The functions are alm ost
the same. B ut detached construction produces a m uch stronger effect,
inasm uch as it presents p arts of the utterance significant from the a u
th o rs point of view' in a more or less independent m anner.
H ere are some more exam ples of detached constructions:
D aylight was dying, the m oon rising, gold behind the poplars."
(Galsworthy)
I w ant to g o , he said, miserable." (Galsworthy)
She was lovely: a ll of herdelightful." (Dreiser)
The italicized phrases and words in these sentences seem to be isolat
ed, b u t still the connection w ith the prim ary m em bers of the correspond
ing sentences is clearly im plied. Thus gold behind the poplars m ay be
206

interpreted as a sim ile or a m etaphor: the moon like gold was rising behind
the poplars, or the moon rising, it was gold...
D etached construction som etim es causes the sim ultaneous realiza
tio n of two gram m atical m eanings of a word In the sentence11 I w ant to
g o , he said, miserable", th e last word m ight possibly have been under
stood as an adverbial m odifier to the word said if not for the comma,
though gram m atically miserably would be expected. The pause indicated
by the comma im plies th a t miserable is an adjective used absolutely
and referring to the pronoun he.
The same can be said about D reisers sentence w ith the word delightful
Here again th e m ark of p u nctuation plays an im portant role. The dash
stan d in g before the word m akes the word conspicuous and, being iso
lated , it becomes the culm inating point of the clim ax lovely... de
lightful, i.e. the peak of the whole utterance. The phrase all of her is also
somehow isolated. The general im pression suggested by the im plied
intonation, is a strong feeling of adm iration; and, as is usually the case,
strong feelings reject coherent and logical syntax.
In the English language detached constructions are generally used
in the belles-lettres prose style and m ainly w ith words th at have some
explanatory function, for exam ple:
Ju n e stopd in front, fending off this idle curiosity a little
b it of a thing, as somebody said, all hair and s p irit...
(Galsworthy)
D etached construction as a sty listic device is a typification of the
syn tactical peculiarities of colloquial language.
D etached construction is a sty listic phenomenon which has so far
been little investigated. The device itself is closely connected w ith the
into n atio n p attern of the utterance. In conversation any word or phrase
or even sentence m ay be m ade more conspicuous by m eans of intonation.
Therefore precision in the syntactical structure of the sentence is not
so necessary from the com m unicative point of view. B ut it becomes
v ita lly im p o rtan t in w ritin g .1 H ere precision of syntactical relations
is the only w'ay to m ake the utterance fully com m unicative. Therefore
w'hen the syntactical relations become obscure, each mem ber of the
sentence th a t seems to be dangling becomes logically significant.
A v aria n t of detached construction is p a r e n t h e s i s . \
P arenthesis is a qualifying, explanatory or appositive word, phrase,
clause, sentence, o r other sequence which inteiVuptste sy n tactic construc
tion w ithout otherw ise affecting it, having often a characteristic into
nation and indicated in w riting by commas brackets or dashes. 2
In fact, parenthesis som etim es em bodies a considerable volum e of
predicativeness, thus giving the utterance an additional nuance pf m ean
ing or a tinge of em otional colouring.

1 See Pe.Tikovskys rem ark on p. 203.

2 Random Hour D ictionary of the English Language. N. Y , I9G7.

Construction
P a r a l l e l c o n s t r u c t i o n is a device which m ay be encoun
tered not so much in the sentence as in the m acro-structures dealt w ith
earlier, viz. the SPU and the paragraph. The necessary condition in p ar
allel construction is identical, or sim ilar, syntactical ^structure, in two
or m ore sentences or p arts of a sentence in close succession,'as'in:
There were, ..., real silver spoons to stir the tea w ith, and real
china cups to drink it out of, and plates of the same to hold the cakes
and toast in". (Dickens)
P arallel constructions are often backed up by re p etitio n of fjords
(lexical repetition) and conjunctions and prepositions (polysyndeidn).
P u re parallel construction, however, does not depend on any other kind
of rep etition but the repetition of the syntactical design of the sentence.
P arallel constructions m ay be p a rtia l or com plete. P a rtia l parallel
arrangem ent is the rep etitio n of some p a rts of successive sentences or
clauses,Jas in:
It is the mob th a t labour in your fields and serve in y o u rh o u s
es th at m an your navy and recruit your arm y, th a t have en a
bled you to defy all the world, and can also defy you when neglect
and calam ity have driven them to despair. tByron)
The a ttrib u tiv e clauses here all begin w ith the subordinate conjunc
tion that which is followed by a verb in the same form, except the last
(have enabled). The verbs, how'ever, are followed either by adverbial
m odifiers of place (in your fields, in your houses) or by direct objects
(your navy, your arm y). The third a ttrib u tiv e clause is not b uilt on the
p a tte rn of the first two, although it preserves the parellel stru ctu re in
general (th at-fv erb -p red ica te -fo b jec t), w hile the fourth has broken
aw ay entirely.
Com plete parallel arrangem ent, also called b a l a n c e , m aintains
the principle of identical structures throughout the corresponding sen
tences, as in:
The seeds ye sow another reaps,
The robes ye weaveanother wears,
The arm s ye forgeanother bears.
(P. B. Shelley)
P arallel construction is m ost frequently used in enum eration, a n
tith esis and in clim ax, thus consolidating the general effect achieved by
these sty listic devices.
Parallel construction is used in different styles of w aiting wdth slig h t
ly different functions. W hen used in the m atter-of-fact styles, it car
ries, in the m ain, the idea of sem antic eq u ality of the p arts, as in sci
entific prose, where the logical principle of arranging ideas predom i
nates. In the belles-lettres style parallel construction carries an em otive
function. T h at is why it is m ainly used as a technical m eans in building
up other sty listic devices thus securing their unity.

208

In the following exam ple parallelism backs up rep etitio n , a llite ra

tion and an tith esis, m aking the whole sentence alm ost epigram m atic.
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe.
And then, from hour to hour, we ro t and ro t. (Shakespeare)
In the exam ple below, parallel construction backs up the rhetorical
address and rhetorical questions. The em otional aspect is also enforced
by the in terjection H eaven!
H ear me, m y m other E arth! behold it, Heaven!
H ave I not had to w restle w ith m y lot?
H ave I not suffered things to be forgiven?
H ave I not had my brain seared, m y heart riven,
Hopes, sapped, nam e blighted, Lifes life lied aw ay? (Byron)
In some cases parallelism em phasizes the sim ilarity and equates
the significance of the parts, as, for exam ple:
Our senses perceive no extrem es. Too m uch sound deafens us;
too m uch light dazzles us; too great distance or proxim ity hinders
our view.
In o th er cases parallel construction em phasizes diversity and con
trast of ideas. (Sec the exam ple on p. 223 from the Tale of tw o C ities
by Dickens).
As a final rem ark it m ust be stated th a t the device of parallelism a l
ways generates rhythm , inasm uch as sim ilar syntactical structures repeat
in close succession. Hence it is natu ral th at parallel construction should
very Frequently be used in poetical structures. A lternation of sim ilar
u n its being the basic principle of verse, sim ilarity in longer u n itsi.e.
in th e stanza, is to be expected.

Chiasmus (Reversed Parallel Construction)

\ c h i a s m s belongs to the group of sty listic devices based on the
rep etitio n of a syntactical p attern , but it has a cross order of words and
phrases. The stru ctu re of two successive sentences or parts of a sentence
m ay be described as reversed parallel construction, the w ord-order of
one of the sentences being inverted as com pared w ith th a t of the other,
as in:
As h'gh as we have m ounted in delight
In our dejection do we sink as low." (W ordsworth)
Down dropped the breeze,
The sails dropped down." (Coleridge)
Chiasm us is som etim es achieved bv a sudden change from active
voice to passive or vice versa, for exam ple
The register of his burial was signed by the clergym an, the clerk,
the undertaker and the chief m ourner. Scrooge signed it. (Dickens)
209

This device is effective in th at it helps to lay stress on the second

p art of the-utterance, which isopposite in structure, as in our dejection;
Scrooge signed i t . This is due to the sudden change in the structure
which by its very unexpectedness linguistically requires a slight pause
before it.
As is seen from the exam ples above, chiasm us can appear only when
there are two success ve sentences or coordinate p arts of a sentence.
So distrib u tio n , here close succession, is the factor which predeterm ines
the b irth of the device.
There are different v aria n ts of the stru ctu ral design of chiasm us.
The first exam ple given shows chiasm us appearing in a complex sentence
where the second part has an opposite arrangem ent. The second exam ple
dem onstrates chiasm us in a sentence expressing sem antically the rela
tion of cause and effect. S tru ctu rally , however, the two p arts are pres
ented as independent sentences, and it is the chiasm atic stru ctu re
which supports the idea of subordination. The th ird exam ple is composed
of two independent sentences and the chiasm us serves to .in crease the
effect of clim ax. H ere is another exam ple of chiasm us where two p aral
lel constructions are followed by a reversed parallel construction linked
to the former by the conjunction and:
The night w inds sigh, the breakers roar,
And shrieks the wild sea-mew. (Byron)
It m ust be rem em bered th at chiasm us is a sy n tactical, not a lexi
cal device, i.e. it is only the arrangem ent of the p arts of the utterance
which co nstitutes th is sty listic device. In the famous epigram by Byron:
In the days of old men m ade the manners',
M anners now m ake m en,
there is no inversion, but a lexical device. B oth parts of the parallel
construction have the same, the norm al word-order. However, the w itty
arrangem ent of the words has given the utterance an epigram m atic
character. This device m ay be classed as l e x i c a l c h i a s m u s
or chism atic rep etition. B yron p articu larly favoured it. H ere are some
other examples:
H is jokes were sermons, and his sermons jokes."
Tis strange,b u t true\ for truth is alw ays strange.
B ut T o m s no moreand so no more of Tom."
True, tis a p ity p ity tis, tis true.
M en are the sport of circumstances, when
The circumstances seem the sport of men."
Tis a p ity though, in this sublim e world th at
Pleasure's a sin, and som etim es sin's a pleasure.
N ote th e difference in m eaning of the repeated words on which the
epigram m atic effect rests: strange-strange,
no moreno m ore,
jokesjokes.
S y n tactical chiasm us is som etim es used to break the m onotony of
parallel constructions. B ut w hatever the purpose of chiasm us, it will
210

alw ays bring in some new shade of m eaning or additional em phasis on

some portion of the second part.
The sty listic effect of this construction has been so far little inves
tigated. B ut even casual observation will show th at chiasm us should
be perceived as a com plete unit. One cannot help noticing th at the first
p art in chiasm us is som ewhat incom plete, it calls for continuation,
and the an ticip atio n is rew arded by the second p a rt of the construction,
which is, as it were, the com pletion of the idea.
L ike parallel construction, chiasm us contributes to the rhythm ical
q u ality of the utterance, and the pause caused by the change in the syn
tactical p attern m ay be likened to a caesura in prosody.
As can be seen from this short analysis of chiasm us, it has developed,
like all sty listic devices, w ithin the fram ework of the literary form of
th e language. However, its prototype m ay be found in the norm s of
expressions of the spoken language, as in the em phatic:
He was a b rave m an, was J o h n .
Repetition
It has already been pointed out t h a t k e p e t i t i o n is an expres
sive m eans of language used when the speaker is under the stress of strong
em otion. It shows the state of m ind of the speakerTlas in the following
passage from G alsworthy:
Stop! she cried, D ont tell me! / don't want to hear,
/ don't want to hear w hat youve come For. I don't want to hear.
The rep etitio n of I dont w ant to h ea r, is not a sty listic device; it
is a m eans by which the excited state of m ind of the speaker is shown.
T his state of m ind alw ays m anifests itself through intonation, which
is suggested here by the words she cried. In the w ritten language, before
direct speech is introduced one can alw ays find words indicating the in
tonation, as sobbed, shrieked, passionately, etc. J . V andryes writqs:
R epetition is also one of the devices having its origin in
th e em otive language. R ep etitio n when applied to the logical language
becomes sim ply an instrum ent of gram m ar. Its origin is to be seen
in the excitem ent accom panying the expression of a feeling being
brought to its highest tension. 1
^ W h e n used as a sty listic device, rep etitio n acquires quite different
functions. It does not aim at m aking a direct em otional im pact. On the
contrary, th e sty listic device of repetition aim s at logical 'em phasis
an em phasis necessary to fix the a tte n tio n of the reader on the key-word
of the utterance?JFor exam ple:
For th a t was it! Ignorant of the long and stealth y m arch of pas
sion, and of th e state to which it had reduced Fleur; ignorant of how
Soames had w atched her, ignorant of F le u rs reckless desperation...
1 . . ., 1937, . 147.

211

ignorant of all this, everybody felt aggrieved.

r

(Galsworthy)
R epetition is classified according to com positional patterns.
repeated word (or phrase) comes a t the beginning of two or more ccmsdcutive sentences, clauses or phrases, we have '/ a p h r a, as in the
exam ple above. If the repeated unit is placed aT ffie end of consecutive
sentences, clauses or phrases, we have the type of re p etitio n called ^ i p h __^ as in:
I am exactly the m an to be placed in a superior position in such
a case as that. I am above the rest of m ankind, in such a case as that. I can
act w ith philosophy in such a case as that.
* v,
s
(Dickens)
H ere the re p etitio n has a slightly different function: it becomes a
background against which the statem ents preceding the repeated unit
iTre m ade to stan d ou t m ore conspicuously. This m ay be called t h e
b a c k g r o u n d function. It m ust be observed, however, th a t the
logical function of the repetition, to give em phasis, does not fade when
itpassum es the background function. This is an additional funcfjojr.i
L R epetition m ay also be arranged in the form of a fram e: the in itial
p arts of a syntactical unit, in m ost cases of a paragraph, are repeated
a t the end of it], as in:
Poor doll's dressmaker! How often so dragged down by hands
th at should have raised her up; how often so m isdirected when
losing her way on the eternal road and asking guidance. Poor, little
doll's dressmaker. (Dickens)
This com positional p attern of repetition is called j_ x .a jn i n g.
The sem antic nuances of different com positional structures of repeti
tio n have been little looked into. B ut even a superficial exam ination
w ill show th a t fram ing, for exam ple, m akes the whole utterance more
com pact and more com plete. Fram ing is most effective in singling out
p arag ^ap h s.y 41 \ \ ",
jC .
V- V
L Among Tatner com positional m odels o f rep etitio n is l i n k i n g
or r e d p l i c a t i o n (also known as a n a d i p l o s i s ) . The stru c
tu re of this device is the following: the last word or phrase of one part
of an utterance is repeated at the beginning of the next partQ thus hooking
th e two parts together. The w riter, instead of m oving on, seems to double
back on his tracks and pick up his last word.
Freem an and slave... carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden,
now' open fig h t, a fig h t th at each tim e ended, either in a revolution
ary re-constitution of society a t large, or in the common ruin
of the contending classes. (Marx, Engels)
Any rep etitio n of a u n it of language will inevitably cause some
slight m odification of m eaning, a m odification suggested by a noticeable
change in the in to n ation w ith w'hich the repeated w'ord is pronounced.
Som etim es a w riter m ay use the linking device several tim es injUIutterance, for exam ple:

 smile would come into Mr. P ickw icks face: the smile extend
ed into a laugh: the laugh into a mar, and the roar became
general. (Dickens)
'For glances beget ogles, ogles sighs, sighs wishes, wishes words,
and l: >rds a le tte r. (B, ron)
T his com positional p a tte rn of re p etitio n is also called h a i n-r e pe t i t i n.
W hat are th e most obvious sty listic functions of repetition?
The first, the prim ary one, is to intensify ihe utterance Intensi
fication is the direct outcom e of the use of the expressive m eans em
ployed in ordinary intercourse; bu t when used in other com positional
p attern s, the im m ediate em otional charge is greatly suppressed and is
replaced by a purely aesthetic aim , as in the following exam ple:
T H E R O V ER
A weary lot is thine, fair m aid,
A weary lot is thine!
To pull the thorn thy brow to braid,
And pres the rue for wine.
A lightsom e eye, a soldier's mien
\ feather of the blue,
A doublet of the Lincoln greenNo more of me you knew
My Love!
No more of me you knew. (W alter Scott)
The rep etitio n of the whole line in its full form requires interpretation.
Superlinear analysis based on associations aroused by the sense of the
whole poem suggests th a t th is rep etitio n expresses the regret of the
R over for his Loves unhappy lot. Compare also the rep etitio n in the line
of Thom as Moores:
Those evening bells! Those evening bells!"
M editation, sadness, rem iniscence and other psychological and em o
tional states of m ind are suggested by the repetition of the phrase w ith
the intensifier those.
The d istributional model of repetition, the aim of which is intensifi
cation, is sim ple: it is im m ediate succession of the parts repeated.
R ep etitio n m ay also stress m onotony of action, it m ay suggest fa
tigue, or despair, or hopelessness, or doom, as in:
W hat has my life been? Fag and grind, fa g and grind. Turn the
wheel, turn the wheel." (Dickens)
H ere th e rh y th m of the repeated parts m akes the m onotony and
hopelessness of the speakers life still m ore keenly felt.
This function of repetition is to be observed in Thom as H oods po
em The Song of the S h irt where different forms of repetition are em
ployed.
213

 W orkworkwork!
Till the brain begins to swim!
W orkw orkwork
Till the eyes are heavy and dim!
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Band, and gusset and seam ,
T ill over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in a dream .
Of course, the m ain idea, th at of long and exhausting work, is ex
pressed by lexical m eans: work till the brain begins to sw im and the
eyes are heavy and dim , till, finally, I fall asleep. But the repetition
here strongly enforces this idea and, m oreover, brings in additional n u
ances of m eaning.
In gram m ars it is pointed out th a t the repetition of words connected
by the conjunction and w ill express reiteratio n or frequentative action.
For exam ple:
Fledgeby knocked and rang, and Fledgeby rang and kno ked,
but no one cam e.
There are phrases containing repetition which have become lexical
un its of the English language, as on and on, over and over, again and
again and others. They all express rep etitio n or continuity of the action,
as in:
He played the tune over and over ag ain .
Som etim es th is shade of m eaning is backed up by m eaningful words,
as in:
I sat desperately, working and working.
They talked and talked all night.
The telephone rang and rang but no one answered.
The idea of co n tin u ity is expressed here not only by the repetition
b u t also by m odifiers such as all n ig h t.
B ackground rep etition, which we have already pointed ou t, is some
tim es used to stress the ordinarily unstressed elem ents of the utterance.
H ere is a good exam ple:
I am attached to you. B ut I can't consent and w on't consent
and I never did consent and I never w ill consent to be lost in you.
(Dickens)
The em phatic elem ent in this utterance is not the repeated word
consent but the modal words cant w ont w ill, and also the em
ph atic d id . Thus the repetition here loses its m ain function and only
serves as a m eans by which other elem ents are m ade to stand out clear
ly. It is w orthy of note th a t in this sentence very strong stress falls on
the m odal verbs and did but not on the repeated consent as is usually
the case w ith the sty listic device.
Like m any sty listic devices, repetition is polyfunctional. The func
tions enum erated do not cover all its varieties. One of those already
214

m entioned, the rhythm ical function, m ust not be under-estim ated when
stu dying the effects produced by repetition. Most of the exam ples given
above give rhythm to the utterance. In fact, any repetition enhances the
rh y th m ical aspect of the utterance.
There is a v ariety of repetition which we shall call root-repetition,
as in:
To live again in the youth of the young." (Galsworthy)
or,
He loves a dodge for its own sake; being... the dodgerest of all the
dodgers. (Dickens)
or, Schemmer, Karl Schemmer, was a brute, a brutish brute. (London)
In ro o t-rep etitio n it is not the same words th a t are repeated but
the same root. C onsequently we are faced w ith different words having
different m eanings (youth: young; brutish: brute), but the shades of m ean
ing are perfectly clear.
A nother v ariety of rep etitio n m ay be called s y n o n y m i c a t r e p
e t i t i o n . This is the repetition of the same idea by using synonym ous
words and phrases which by adding a slightly different nuance of m ean
ing intensify the im pact of the utterance, as in
...are there not capital punishments sufficient in your statutes?
Is there not blood enough upon your penal code? (Byron)
H ere the m eaning of the words capital punishm ents and sta tu te s
is repeated in the next sentence by the contextual synonym s blood
and penal code.
Here is another exam ple from K eats sonnet The Grasshopper and
the C ricket.
The poetry of earth is,never dead...
The poetry of earth is ceasing never..."
There are two term s frequently used to show the negative a ttitu d e
of the critic to all kinds of synonym ical repetitions. These are p I e on a s m and t a u t o l o g y . The Shorter Oxford D ictionary defines
pleonasm as the use of m ore words in a sentence than are necessary to
express the m eaning; redundancy of expression. Tautology is defined
as the rep etitio n of the same statem ent; the repetition (especially in
the im m ediate context) of the same word or phrase or of the sam e idea
or statem ent in o ther words; usually as a fault of style.
Here are two exam ples generally given as illustrations:
It was a clear starry night, and not a cloud was to be seen."
He was the only survivor; no one else was saved."
It is not necessary to distinguish between these two term s, the distinc
tion being very fine. Any repetition m ay be found faulty if it is not
m otivated by the aesthetic purport of the w riter. On the other hand,
any seemingly unnecessary rep etitio n of words or of ideas expressed in
different words m ay be justified by the aim of the com m unication.

For exam ple, The daylight is fading, the sun is setting and night
is com ing .on as given in a textbook of English com position is regarded
as tautological, whereas the same sentence m ay serve as an a rtistic exam
ple depicting the approach of night.
A certain R ussian literary critic has w ittily called pleonasm sty lis
tic elephantiasis, a disease in w'hich the expression of the idea sw'ells
up and loses its force. Pleonasm m ay also be called the art of w'ordy
silence.
Both pleonasm and tautology m ay be acceptable in oratory inasm uch
as they help the audience to grasp the m eaning of the utterance. In this
case, however, the repetition of ideas is not considered a fau lt although
it m ay have no aesthetic function.
Enumeration
E n u m e r a t i o n ig a sty listic device by which separate things,
objects, phenom ena, properties, actions are nam ed one by one so th at
they produce a .cljlajh, the links ol which, being syntactically in the same
position (homogeneous parts of speech), are forced to display some kind
of sem antic hom ogeneity, rem ote though it m ay seem.
Most of our notions are associated w ith other notions due to some
kind of relatio n between them: dependence, cause and result, likeness,
d issim ilarity , sequence, experience (personal and/or social), proxim ity,
etc.
In fact, it is th e associations plus social experience th a t have resu lt
ed in the form ation of w hat is known as sem antic fields. E num eration,
as an SD, may b^ conventionally called a spArlfdic sem antic field, inas
m uch as many cases of enum eration have no continuous existence in
th eir m anifestation as sem antic fields do. The grouping of som etim es
absolutely heterogeneous notions occurs only in isolated instances to
m eet some peculiar purport of the w riter.
Let us exam ine the follow ing cases of enum eration:
There Elarold gazes on a work divine,
A blending of all beauties; stream s and dells,
F ru it, foliage, crag, w'ood, cornfield, m ountain, vine
And chief less castles breathing stern farewells
From grey b u t leafy walls, where R uin greenly dw'ells. (Byron)
There is hardly an ything in this enum eration th at could be regarded
as m aking some ex tra im pact on the reader. Each word is closely associat
ed sem antically w ith the following and preceding words in the enum era
tion, and the effect is w hat the reader associates w ith natural scenery.
The utterance is perfectly coherent and there is no halt in the natural
flow of the com m unication. In other words, there is nothing specially
to arrest the readers atten tio n ; no effort is required to decipher the mes
sage: it yields itself easily to im m ediate perception.
T hat is not the case in the following passage:
Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole as216

s:gn, liis sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and his sale mourner.
(Dickens)
The enum eration here is h e t e r o g e n e o u s ; the legal term s placed
in a strin g w ith such words as frien d and m ourner result in a kind
of cldsh, a thing typical of any sty listic device. Here there is a clash
between term inological vocabulary and common neutral words. In a d d i
tion there is a clash of concepts: friend and m ourner by force of enu
m eration are equal in significance to the business office of executor,
ad m in istrato r, etc. and also to th at of legatee.
E num eration is frequently used as a device to depict scenery through
a to u rists eyes, as in G alsw orthys To L et:
F leu rs wisdom in refusing to w rite to him was profound, for
he reached each new place entirely w ithout hope or fever, and could
concentrate im m ediate a tte n tio n on the donkeys and tum bling bells,
the priests, patios, beggars, children, crowing cocks, sombreros, cactushedges, old high w hite villages, goats, olive-trees, greening plains, singing
birds in tin y c a g e ,, watersellers, sunsets, melons, mules, great churches,
pictures, and sw im m ing grey-brown mountains of a fascinating land.
The enum eration here is w orth analysing. The various elem ents of
this enum eration can be approxim ately grouped in sem antic fields:
1) donkeys, m ules, crowing cocks, goats, singing birds;
2) priests, beggars, children, w 'atersellers
3) villages, patios, cactus-hedges, churches, tum bling bells, som bre
ros, pictures;
4) sunsets, swim m ing grey-brow n m ountains, greening plains, olivetrees, melons.
Galsworthy found it necessary to arrange iliem not according to logical
sem antic centres, but in some other order; in one which, apparently,
would suggest the rap idly changing im pressions of a tourist. E num era
tio n of th is kind assumes a sty listic function and may therefore be regard
ed as a sty listic device, inasm uch as the objects in the enum eration are
not d istrib u ted in logical order and therefore become striking.
This heterogeneous enum eration gives one an insight into the m ind of
th e observer, into his love of the exotic, into the great v ariety of m iscella
neous objects which caught his eye, it gives an idea of the progress of his
travels and the m ost striking features of the land of Spain as seen by one
who is in love w ith the country. The parts of the enum eration m ay be
likened to the strokes of a p ain ters brush who by an inim itable choice
of colours presents to 'o u r eyes an unforgettable image of the life and
scenery of Spain. The passage itself can be likened to a picture drawn for
you w hile you w ait.
Here is another exam ple of heterogeneous enum eration:
The principal production of these tow ns... appear to be soldiers,
sailors, Jews, chalk, shrimps, officers and dock-yard men." (Dickens,
Pickw ick Papers)
217

,I

, _

Suspense
S u s p e n s e is a com positional device which consists in arranging
the m atter of a com m unication in such a way th at the less im portant,
descriptive, subordinate parts are amassed ! the beginning, the m ain
idea being w ithheld till the end of the sentence. Thus the read ers a tte n
tion is held and his interest kept up, for exam ple:

M ankind, says a Chinese m anuscript, which my friend M. was

obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thou
sand ages ate their m eat raw. (Charles Lamb)

. p \r i

Sentences of this type are called p e r i o d i c s e n t e n c e s , or

' p e r i o d s . Their function is to create suspense, to keep the reader
in a state of u n certain ty and expectation.
Here is a good exam ple of the piling up of details so as to create a
state of suspense in the listeners:
B ut suppose i t 1 passed; suppose one o f these men, as I have seen
them , meagre w ith fam ine, sullen w ith despair, careless of a life
which your Lordships are perhaps about to value at som ething less
th an the price of a stocking-fram e: suppose this man surrounded by
the children for whom he is unable to procure bread at the hazard of
his existence, about to be torn for ever from a fam ily which he lately
supported in peaceful industry, and which it is not his fault th a t he
can no longer so support; suppose this m an, and there are ten th o u
sand such from whom you m ay select your victim s, dragged into court,
to be tried for this new offence, by this new law; still there are two
things w a n tin g to convict and condemn him ; and these are, in my op i
nion, twelve butchers for a ju ry , and a Jeffreys for a judgel (Byron)
Here the subject of the subordinate clause of concession (one of
these m en) is repeated twice (this m an, this m an), each tim e followed
by a num ber of subordinate parts, before the predicate (dragged)
is reached. A ll this is drawn together in the principal clause (there
are two things w a n tin g ...), which was expected and prepared for by
the logically incom plete preceding statem ents. B ut the suspense is not
yet broken: w hat these two things are, is still w ithheld u n til the orator
comes to the words and these are, in m y o p inion.
Suspense and clim ax sometimes go together. In this case all the
inform ation contained in the series of statem ent-clauses preceding the
solution-statem ent are arranged in the order of gradation, as in the
exam ple above from B yrons m aiden speech in the House of Lords.
The device of suspense is especially favoured by orators. This is ap p a r
e n tly due to the strong influence of intonation which helps to create the
desired atm osphere of expectation and em otional tension which goes
w ith it.

1 A proposed law perm ittin g the death penalty for breaking machines (at the tim e
of the Luddite movement).
218

ijb -S J f\A A u C L 4 L LU g
Suspense alw ays requires long stretches of speech or w riting. Some
tim es the whole of a poem is built on this sty listic device, as is the case
w ith K ip lin g s poem If where all the eight stanzas consist of i f -clauses
and only the last two lines constitute the principal clause.
I f you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blam ing it on you,
/f you can tru st yourself when all men doubt you
And m ake allowance for their doubting too,
I f you can dream and not m ake dreams your m aster.
I f you can th in k and not m ake thoughts your aim ,
Yours is the earth and everything th a t's in it,...
A n d which is more, yo u 'll be a M an, m y son.
T his device is effective in more than one way, but the m ain purpose
is to prepare the reader for the only logical conclusion of the utterance.
It is a psycholog cal effect th at is aim ed at in particular.
A series of parallel question-sentences containing subordinate p arts
is another stru ctu ral pattern based on the principle of suspense, for
the answer is w ithheld for a tim e, as in B yrons The B ride of Abydos:
Know ye the land where the cypress and m y rtle ...
Know ye the land of the cedar and v in e ...
'T is the clime o f the E a st 'tis the land o f the S u n .
The end of an utterance is a specially em phatic part of it. Therefore
if-we keep the secret of a com m unication u n til we reach the end, it will
lead to concentration of the re a d e rs or listeners atten tio n , and this is
the effect sought.
One more exam ple to show how suspense can be m aintained:
Proud of his H ear him ! proud, too, of his vote,
And lost v irg in ity of oratory,
P roud of his learning (just enough to quote)
He re v e lld in his Ciceronian glory. (Byron)
It m ust be noted th at suspense, due to its p artly psychological n ature
(it arouses a feeling of expectation), is fram ed in one sentence, for there
must not be any break in the intonation pattern. S eparate sentences
would v iolate th e principle of constant em otional tension which is char
acteristic of this device.
t

Climax (Gradation)

yet

f (

T)

*,

C l i m a x is an arrangem ent of sgntences (or of the-homojgeneous

parts of one sentence) which secures a graduat increase in significance,
im portance, or em otionaP tension in the utterance, as in:
219

It was a lovely city, a beautiful city, a fair city, a veritable gem

o f a city .
or in:
Ne barrier w all, ne river deep and wide,
Ne horrid crags, nor m ountains dark and tall
R ise like the rocks that p a rt H ispania's land from Gaul." (Byron)
G radual increase in em otional evaluation in the first illustration
and in significance in the second is realized by the distribution of the
corresponding lexical item s. E a c h jmccessive unit is perceived_as stronger
th an the preceding one. Of course, there are no objective linguistic criteria
to estim ate the degree of im portance or significance of each constituent.
It is only the formal hom ogeneity of these com ponent parts and the test
of synonym y in the words lovely, b eau tifu l, fa ir, veritable gem,
in the first exam ple and the relativ e inaccessibility of the barriers w a ll,
riv e r, crags, m ountains together w ith the epithets deep and w ide
h o rrid , dark and ta ll th a t make us feel the increase in im portance
of each.
A gradual increase in significance m ay be jp a in ta in e d in three ways:
logical, em otional and q uantitative.
jt
^ V*
L o g i c a l I J j n r x i ba^ed on the relative im portance c ^ tljg '
component parts looked nt~ffoin ffie point of view of the concepts em
bodied in ibem. This relativ, im portance m ay be evaluated both objec
tively and subjectively, the authorV a ttitu d e towards the objects or
phenomena in qu ed ion being disck>ed. Thu . the following paragraph
from Di' Lens's C hristm as Carol shows the relativ e im portance in the
au th o rs m ind of the things and phenom ena described:
Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say. w ith gladsom e
looks, Mv dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see
m e?' No beggars im plored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked
him what it was o clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life
inquired the vwey to such and such a place, of Scrooge. E ven the blind
m ens dogs appeared to know him , and when they saw him coming on,
v ild tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would
wag th eir tails, as though thev said, No eye at all is better than an
evil eye, dark m aster!'
The order of the statem ents shows what the author considers the cul
m ination of the clim ax. The passage by Dickens should be considered
subj d iv e", because there is no general recognition of the relativ e signif
icance cf the statem ents in the paragraph. The clim ax in the lines from
B yron .Me barrier
m ay be considered objective because such things
as w r;T , riv< r. crabs m ountains are objectively ranked according
to tli r accessibility.
E
- t i o a L r I j a .v is based on the relativ e em otional tenion produced by v rdr, with em otive irid n in g , as in the first exam ple
w ith Die words lovely". b eau tifu l, fa ir.
Of course, em otional clim ax based on synonym ous stfungs of words
w ith em otive m eaning will inevitably cause certain sem antic differences
220

in these words such is the linguistic n atu re of sty listic synonym s ,

but em otive m eaning will be the prevailing one.
Em otional clim ax is m ainly found in sentences, more rarely in longer
syntactical units. This is natu ral. E m otional charge cannot hold long.
As becomes obvious from the analysis of the above exam ples of cli
m atic order, the arrangem ent of the com ponent p arts call for parallel
construction which, being a kind of syntactical rep etitio n , is frequently
accom panied by lexical repetition. Elere is another exam ple of em oticnal
clim ax b u ilt on this pattern:
He was pleased when the child began to adventure across floors
on hands and knees; he was gratified, when she m anaged the trick of
balancing herself on two legs; he was delighted when she first said la
t a ; and he was rejoiced when she recognized him and sm iled at him .
(Alan Paton)
F in ally , we come to q u a n t i t a t i v e c l i m a x . This is an
evident increase in the volum e of the corresponding concepts, as in:
They looked at hundreds of houses; they clim bed thousands of
stairs; they inspected innumerable kitchens. (Maugham)
Here the clim ax is achieved by sim ple num erical increase. In the
following exam nie clim ax is m aterialized by setting sido by ide concepts
of measure and time:
L ittle by little , bit by b it, and day by day, and year by year the bar
on got the worst of som edjsgu^ec^ question. (L> ckm s)
W hat then are the indispensable cons til u e n k /j f cli^iax0 The\ are:
a) the distrib u tio n al constituent: close prcm'imity of the com ponent
parts arranged in increasing order of im portance or significance;
b) the syntactical p attern: parallel constructions w ith possible lexical
repetition;
c) the connotative constituent: the explanatory context w'hich helps
the reader to grasp the gradation, as n o .. . ever once in all his life, nobody
ever, nobody. No beggars (Dickens); deep and wide, horrid, dark and tall
(Byron); veritable (gem o f a c ity).
C lim ax, like m any other sty listic devices, js a means by which the
author discloses his world outlook, his evaluation of objective facts
and phenom ena. The concrete sty listic function of this device ic to
'how' the relativ e im portance of fhings'as seen by the author (especially
in em otional climax),or to impress upon the reader the significance of the
things described bv suggested com parison, or to depict phenom ena dy
nam ically. 1
~ ' tL

\fk r t . zj

1 N o t e : There is a device which is called a n t i I i m 'a x.

The ideas expressed may be arranged in ascending order of significance, or they m ay
poetical or elevated, but the final one, which the reader expects to b the culm inating
ne, as in climax, is trifling or farcical. There is a sudden drop from the loft) n- 1 riovthe ridiculous. A tvpical exam ple is Aesops fable The M ountain in Labe
In days of to re, a m ighty rum bling was heard in a M ountain It w s lid to be
in labour, and m ultitudes flocked together, from far and near, to see what it would

221

Anti thesis
In order to characterize a thing or phenom enon from a specific point
of view, it m ay be necessary not to find points of resem blance or assoc'ation between it and some other thing or phenom enon, but to find points
of sharp contrast, th a t is, to set one against the other, for exam ple:
A saint abroad, and a devil a t home. (Bunyan)
B etter to reign in hell than serve in heaven. (Milton)
t'V '

A line of dem arcation m ust be drawn between logical opposition

and sty listic opposition. Any opposition will be based on the c o n tra s t
ing features of two objects. These contrasting features are represented
in pairs of words which we call antonym s, provided th a t all the prop
erties of the two objects in question m ay be set one against another,
as sa in t d ev il, reign serve, h e ll heaven.
M any word-com binations are b uilt up by m eans of contrasting pairs,
as up and down, inside and out, from top to bottom and the like.
S ty listic opposition, which is given a special nam e, the term a nt i t h e s i s, is o different linguistic nature: it is based on r e v i v e
opposition which arises ^ u f of the context through the expansion of ^
objectively contrasting pairs, as in:
Youth is lovely, age is lonely,
Y outh is fiery, age is fr o s ty (Longfellow)
Here the objectively contrasted pair is youth and age, L ovely
and lonely cannot be regarded as objectively opposite concepts, but
being drawn into the scheme contrasting yo u th and age, they display
certain features which m ay be counted as antonym ical. This is stren g th
ened also by the next line where not only y o u th and age but also
fier> a n d fro sty are objective antonym s.
It is not only the sem antic aspect which explains the linguistic nature
of antithesis, the stru ctu ral pattern also plays an im portant role. A n tith
esis is generally m oulded in parallel construction. The antagonistic
features of the two objects or phenomena are more easily perceived when
they stan d out in sim ilar structures. This is p articu larly advantageous
when the antagonistic features are not inherent in the objects in question
but imposed on them. The stru ctu ral design of antithesis is so im portant

produce. After long expectation and many wise conjectures from the bystanders
out popped, a Mouse!
Here we have deliberate anticlim ax, which is a recognized form of hum our. A nti
clim ax is frequently used by hum orists like Mark Twain and Jerom e K. Jerom e.
In Three Men in a Boat , for example, a poetical passage is invariably followed by
ludicrous scene. For example, the author expands on the beauties of the sunset on the
river and concludes:
B u t we d idn't sail into the world of golden sunset, we w ent slap into that old punt
where the gentlemen were fishing.
Another exam ple is:
This u ar-like speech, received v. ith many a cheer,
H ad filled them w ith desire of fame, and beerI (Byron)

222

th a t unless it is conspicuously m arked in the utterance, the effect m ight

be lost.
It m ust be rem em bered, however, th a t so strong is the im pact of the
various sty listic devices, th at they draw into their o rb it sty listic ele
ments not specified as integral parts of the device. As we have pointed
ou t, this is often the case w ith the epithet. The same concerns a n tith
esis. Som etim es it is difficult to single out the elem ents which d istin
guish it from logical opposition.
Thus in D ickenss A Tale of Two Cities the first paragraph is prac
tically b u ilt on opposing pairs.
It was the best of tim es, it was the worst of tim es, it was the age
of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity, if was the season of L ig h t, it was the
season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the w inter of
despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we
were all going direct to Heaven, we are all going direct the other w a y ..
(Dickens)
The stru ctu ral p attern of the utterance, the pairs of objective anto
nym s as well as of those on which antonym ical m eanings are imposed
by the force of analogy makes the whole paragraph sty listically signifi
cant, and the general device which makes it so is antithesis.
T his device is often signalled by the introductory connective but,
as in:
The cold in clim e are cold in blood
T heir love can scarce deserve the name;
B u t m ine was like a lava flood.
T hat boils in E tn a s breast of flam e. (Byron)
W hen b u t is used as a signal of antithesis, the other stru ctu ral sig
n al, th e parallel arrangem ent, m ay not be evident. It m ay be unneces
sary, as in th e exam ple above.
A ntithesis is a device bordering between stylistics and logic. The
extrem es are easily discernible bu t most of the cases are interm ediate.
H owever, it is essential to distinguish between antithesis and w hat is
term ed c o n t r a s t . C ontrast is a literary (not a linguistic) device
based on logical opposition between the phenom ena set one against an
other. H ere is a good exam ple of contrast.
T H E R IV E R -v.
The riv e rwi*th the sunlight flashing from Its dancing wavelets,
g ild in g gold the grey-green beech-trunks, g lin tin g through the dark,
cool wood paths, chasing shadows o er the shallows, flinging diam onds
from the m ill-w heels, throw ing kisses to the lilies, w antoning w ith the
w eirs w hite waters, silvering moss-grown walls and bridges, brig h t
ening every tin y tow nlet, m aking sweet each lane and meadow, lying
tangled in the rushes, peeping, laughing, from each inlet, gleam ing gay
on m any a far sail, m aking soft the air w ith glory is a golden fairy
stream .
223

B u t the riv erchiii and w eary, w ith the ceaseless rain drops
falling on its brown and sluggish w aters, w ith the sound as of a wom
an, weeping low in some dark cham ber, w hile the woods all dark and
silen t, shrouded in their m ists of vapour, stan d like ghosts upon the
m argin, silent ghosts w ith eyes reproachful like the ghosts of e\ il ac
tions, like the ghosts of friends neglected is a spirit-haunted w ater
through the land of vain regrets. (Jerom e K. Jerom e)

The two paragraphs are m ade into one long span of thought by the
signal B u t and the re p etitio n of the word river after which in both cases
a pause is in d icated by a dash which suggests a different intonation
p attern of the word river. The opposing members of the contrast are
th e sunlight flashing ceaseless rain drops fallin g ; gilding gold
the grev-green beech-trunks, g lin tin g through the dark, cool w'ood p ath s
th e woods, all dark and silent, shrouded in their m ists of vapour, stand
like g h o s ts .. . ; golden fairy stream spirit-haunted w ater.
S till there are several things lacking to show a clear case of a sty listic
device, viz. the words involved in the opposition do not display any ad d i
tional nuance of m eaning caused bv being opposed one to another; there
are no tru e parallel constructions except, perhaps, the general p attern of
the two paragraphs, w ith all the descriptive p arts placed between the
gram m atical subject and predicate, the two predicates serving as a kind
of sum m ing up, thus com pleting the contrast.
The r iv e r ... is a golden fairy stream . 'B u t the r iv e r .. . is a spirithaunted W'ater through the land of vain reg rets. The contrast em bodied
in these two paragraphs is, however, akin to the stylistic device of
an tith esi'
A ntithesis has the follow ing basic functions: rhy thm -fonm jr^
f^ u s ^ ^ f the parallel arrangem ent on which it is founded); ^ ^
di: ievtTing; com parative. These functions often go together' and in ter
mingle in their own peculiar m anner. B ut as a rule antithesis displays
one of the functions more clearly than the others. This p articu lar func
tion will then be the leading one in the given utterance. An interesting
exam ple of an tith esis where the com parative function is predom inant is
the m adrigal ascribed to Shakespeare:
A M A D RIG A L
Crabbed age and youth
Cannot live together:
Youth is full of pleaance,
Age is full of care;
Y outh like sum m er m orn,
Age like w inter wreather,
Youth like sum m er brave,
Age like w inter bare:
Youth is full of sport,
A ges breath is short,
224

Youth is nim ble, Age is lame:

Youth is hot and bold,
Age is weak and cold,
Y outh is w ild, and Age is tam e:
Age, I do abhore thee
Y outh, I do adore thee;
my Love, my Love is young!
Age, I do defy thee
sweet shepherd, hie thee.
For m ethinks thou s ta y st too long.
D PARTICULAR WAYS OF COMBINING PARTS
OF THE UTTERANCE (LIN KAGE)
'f , ^

Much light can be throw n on the n atu re of I i n k a g e if we do not

confine the problem to such notions as coordination and subordination.
Most of the m edia which serve as gram m atical forms for com bining parts
wdthin the sentence have been investigated and expounded in gram m ars
w ith sufficient clarity and fullness. B ut sentence-linking features
w ithin larger-than-the-sentence structuresSPU s, paragraphs and still
larger stru ctu res have so far been very little under observation.
The current of fashion at present, due to problem s raised by textlinguistics, runs in the direction of investigating ways and means of
com bining different stretches of utterances w ith the aim of disclosing the
wholeness of the work. Various scientific papers single out the following
m edia which can fulfil the stru ctu ral function of u niting various p arts of
utterances: rep etitio n (anaphora, epiphora, anadiplosis, fram ing), the
definite article, the dem onstrative pronouns, the personal pronouns,
the use of concord (in num ber, form of tenses, etc.), adverbial words and
phrases (however, consequently, it follows then, etc.), prosodic features
(contrastive tone, the listing intonation pattern), parallel construc
tions, chiasm us, sustained m etaphors and sim iles, and a num ber of
other m ean s.1
The definition of means of com bining p arts of an utterance, rests on
the assum ption th a t any u n it of language m ight, in p articu lar cases,
turn into a connective. Such phrases as that is to say, i t goes w ithout saying,
for the which, however, the preceding statem ent and the like should also be
regarded as connectives. It follows then th a t the capacity to serve as a
connective is an inherent property of a great num ber of words and phrases
if they are set in a position which calls forth continuation of a thought r
description of an event.
To follow closely how parts of an utterance are connected and to clarify
the type of interdependence between these p arts is som etim es difficult
either because of the absence of formal signs of linkage (asyndeton),
or because of the presence of too m any identical signs (polysyndeton).

1 See also D avid Crystal and Derek D avy. Investigating English Style. Ldn, 1969'
P- 44.
8

Ns 2376

225

Asyndeton

A s y r i d e t o n , th a t is, connection between p arts of a sentence

or between sentences w ithout any form al sign, becomes a sty listic device
if there is a deliberate omission of the connective where it is generally
expected to be according to the norm s of the lite rary language. Here is
an example:
Soames turned away; he had an u tter disinclination for talk, like
one stan d in g before an open grave, w atching a coffin slowly lowered.
(Galsworthy)
The deliberate om ission of the subordinate conjunction because or fo r
makes the sentence 'h e had an u tte r ... alm ost entirely independent. It
m ight be perceived as a characteristic feature of Soames in general, but
for the com parison beginning with like, which shows th at Soam ess mood
was tem porary.
Here a rem inder is necessary th a t there is an essential difference
between the o rdinary norm s of language, both literary and colloquial,
and sty listic devices which are skilfu lly wrought for special inform ative
and aesthetic purposes. In the sentence:
Bicket did not answer his th ro at felt too dry. (Galsworthy)
the absence of the conjunction and a punctuation m ark m ay be regarded
as a deliberate introduction of the norm s of colloquial speech into the
literary language. Such structures m ake the utterance sound like one
syntactical un it to be pronounced in one breath group. This determ ines
the intonation pattern..
It is interesting to compare the preceding twro utterances from the
point of viewr of the length of the pause between the constituent parts.
In the first u tterance (Soam es...), there is a semicolon which, being the
indication of a longish pause, breaks the utterance into two parts. In
the second utterance (B icket...), no pause should be made and the whole
of the utterance pronounced as one syntagm .
The crucial problem in ascertaining the true intonation p attern of
a sentence composed of two or more p arts lies in a deeper analysis of
the functions of the connectives, on the one hand, and a more detailed
investigation of graphical means the signals indicating the correct
in terp retatio n of the utterance , on the other.
)

'
Polysyndeton

' /

*'

f' 1 ?

P o l y s y n d e t o n is the sty listic device of connecting sentences,

or phrases, or syntagm s, or words by using connectives (m ostly conjunc
tions and propositions) before each com ponent p art, as in:
The heaviest ra in , and snow, and h ail, and sleet, could boast
of the advantage over him in only one respect. (Dickens)
In this passage from Longfellows The Song of H iaw atha ,there
rep etitio n both of conjunctions and prepositions:
Should you ask me, whence these stories?
226

is

Whence these legends and trad itio n s,

W ith the odours of the forest,
W ith th e dew, and dam p of meadows,
W ith th e cu rlin g smoke of wigwams,
W ith the ru sh in g of great rivers,
W ith th eir frequent re p e titio n s,...
The rep etitio n of conjunctions and other means of connection makes
an utterance more rhythm ical;']so much so th at prose m ay even seem
like verse. The conjunctions and other connectives, being generally u n
stressed elem ents, when placecPbefore each m eaningful m ember, will
cause the altern atio n of stressed and unstressed syllables the essential
requirem ent of rhythm in verse. Hence, one of the functions of polysynde
ton is a rh y th m ical one.
Lin ad d itio n to this, polysyndeton has a d isintegrating function.
It generally combines homogeneous elem ents- of thought into one whole
resem bling enum eration. B ut, unlike enum eration, which integrates
both homogeneous and heterogeneous elem ents into one whole, poly
syndeton causes each member of a strin g of facts to stand out conspic
uously. T hat is why we say th a t polysyndeton has a disintegrating func
tion. E num eration show's things united; polysyndeton shows them iso
lated.
Polysyndeton has also the function of expressing sequence, as in:
Then Mr. B offin... sat staring a t a little bookcase of Law P ra
ctice and Law R eports, and a t a wdndowq and a t an em pty blue bag,
and a stick of sealing-w ax, and a t a pen, and a box of wafers, and an
apple, and a w riting-padall very dustyend a t a num ber of inky
sm ears and blots, and a t an im perfectly disguised gun-case pretending
to be som ething legal, and a t an iron box labelled H arm on E state,
u n til Mr. Lightwood appeared. (Dickens)
All these ands m ay easily be replaced by thens. B ut in this case too
much stress W'ould be laid on the logical aspects of the utterance, where
as and expresses both sequence and disintegration.
N ote also th at Dickens begins by repeating not only and, but also
at. B ut in the m iddle of the utterance he drops the at, picks it up again,
drops it once more and then finally picks it up and uses it w ith the last
three items.
The Gap-Sentence Link
There is a peculiar type of connection of sentences which for w ant of
a term wre shall call the g a p-s e n t e n c e I i n k (GSL). The conne
ction is not im m ediately a p p a ren t and it requires a certain 'm ental
effort to grasp the interrelation between the parts of the utterance,
in other words, to bridge the sem antic gap. H ere is an exam ple:
She and th a t fellow ought to be the sufferers, and they were in
Ita ly .' (Galsworthy)

8*

227

In th is sentence the second p art, which is hooked on to the first by the

conjunction and, seems to be unm otivated or, in other words, the whole
sentence seems to be logically incoherent. B ut th is is only the first im pres
sion. After a more careful supralinear sem antic analysis it becomes clear
th at the exact logical variant of the utterance would be:
Those who ought to suffer were enjoying them selves in Ita ly
(where w ell-to-do English people go for holidays).
C onsequently, GSL is a way of connecting two sentences seemingly
unconnected and leaving it to the re ad ers perspicacity to grasp the idea
im plied, but not worded. G enerally speaking, every detail of the situ a
tion need not be stated. Some m ust rem ain for the reader to divine.
As in m any other cases, the device of GSL is deeply rooted in the
norm s of the spoken language. The om issions are justified because the
situ atio n easily prom pts w hat has not been said. The proper intonation
also helps in deciphering the com m unication. It is also natural in conver
sation to add a phrase to a statem ent made, a phrase which wdll point to
u n certain ty or lack of knowledge or to the u n p red ictab ility of the possi
ble issue, etc., as in:
She says nothing, but it is clear th a t she is harping on this en
gagement, andgoodness knows what." (Galsworthy)
In w riting, where the situation is explained by the w riter and the
intonation is only guessed at, such breaks in the utterance are regarded
as sty listic devices. The gap-sentence link requires a certain m ental
effort to em brace the unexpressed additional inform ation.
The gap-sentence link is generally indicated by and or but. There is
no asyndetic GSL, inasm uch as connection by asyndeton can be carried
out only by sem antic ties easily and im m ediately perceived. These ties are,
as it were, su b stitu tes for the formal gram m atical means of connection.
The gap-sentence link has no im m ediate sem antic connections, therefore
it requires formal indications of connection. It dem ands an obvious break
in the sem antic tex ture of the utterance and forms an unexpected sem an
tic leap .
The possibility of filling in the sem antic gap depends largely on
associations awakened by the two sentences linked cum ulatively. In
th e following u tterance the connection between the two sentences needs
no comment.
It was an afternoon to dream . A n d she took ou t Jo n 's letters.
(Galsworthy)
W hile m ain tain ing the u n ity of the utterance sy n tactically the author
leaves the in terp retation of the link between the two sentences to the
m ind of the reader. It is the im aginative m ind only th at can decode a
message expressed by a stylistic device. Nowhere do the conjunctions
and and b u t acquire such varied expressive shades of m eaning as in GSL
constructions. It is these nuances th a t cause the peculiar intonation with
which and or b u t are pronounced. Thus in the following sentence the
228

conjunction and is m ade very conspicuous by the intonation signalled

by th e dash:
The Forsytes were resentful of som ething, not individually,
but as a fam ily, this resentm ent expressed itself in an added per
fection of raim en t, an exuberance of fam ily cordiality, an exagger
atio n of fam ily im portance, and the sn iff." (Galsworthy)
The GSL and the s n iff is m otivated. Its association w ith an exagger- .
atio n of fam ily im portance is apparent. However, so strong is the emo
tive m eaning of the wrord s n iff th a t it overshadows the preceding words
which are used in their prim ary, exact, logical meanings. Hence the dash
after and to add special significance to the cum ulative effect. This exam
ple shows th a t GSL can be accom panied by sem antic gaps wider or narrower
as the case m ay be. In this exam ple the gap is very narrow and therefore
th e m issing link is easily restored. B ut som etim es the gap is so wide th at
it requires a deep supralinear sem antic analysis to get at the im plied
m eaning. Thus in the following exam ple from B yrons m aiden speech:
And here I m ust rem ark w ith w hat a lac rity you are accustom ed
to fly to the succour of your distressed allies, leaving the distressed
of your own country to the care of Providence or the parish."
H ere the GSL, m aintained by or and followed by the dash, which
indicates a rath er long pause, im plies th a t the parish, which was supposed
to care for im poverished workers, was unable to do so.
By its in trin sic n atu re the conjuction bu t can ju stify the ap p aren tly
unm otivated coupling of two unconnected statem ents. Thus, in the fol
lowing passage GSL is m aintained by and backed up by but.
It was not Capetown, where people only frowned when they saw a
black boy and a u'hite girl. B u t here... A n d he loved her." (Abrahams)
The gap-sentence link as a sty listic device is based on the peculiari
ties of the spoken language and is therefore most frequently used in
represented speech. It is GSL alongside other characteristics th a t m oulds
the device of unuttered represented speech.
The gap-sentence link has various functions. It m ay serve to signal
the introduction of inner represented speech; it m ay be used to indicate
a subjective evaluation of the facts; it m ay introduce an effect re su lt
ing from a cause which has already had verbal expression. In all these
functions GSL displays an unexpected coupling of ideas. E ven the causeand-effect relations, logical as they are, when em bodied in GSL structures
are not so obvious.
In contra-distinction to the logical segm entation of the utterance,
which leaves no room for personal interpretation of the interdependence
of th e com ponent parts, GSL aim s a t stirrin g up in the readers m ind the
suppositions, associations and conditions under which the sentence
u ttere d can re ally exist.
229

E. PARTICULAR USE O F COLLOQUIAL CONSTRUCTIONS

We have already pointed out some of the constructions which bear an

im print of em otion in the very arrangem ent of the words, w hether they
are neutral or sty listically coloured (see p. 39). Such constructions are
alm ost exclusively used in lively colloquial intercourse. The em otional
elem ent can be strongly enforced by em phatic intonation, which is an
indispensable com ponent of em otional utterance. But what is im portant
to observe is th a t the structure itself, independent of the actual lexical
presentation, is intended to carry some em otional charge.
Em otional sy ntactical structures typical of the spoken variety of
language are som etim es very effectively used by m en-of-letters to depict
the em otional state of m ind of the characters; they m ay even be used, in
p articu lar cases, in the narrativ e of the author. B ut even when used in
the dialogue of novels and stories these em otional constructions, being
deprived of their accom panim ent intonationassume a greater signifi
cance and become sty listically m arked. H ere the em otional structures
stand out more conspicuously, because they are thrown into prom inence
not by the intonation p attern but by the syntactical pattern.
C onsequently, it will be found necessary to classify some of the most
typical structures of these kinds, in spite of the lurking danger of confus
ing idiom atic phrases (set expressions, phraseological units) w ith
ab stract patterns.
a) One of the most typical patterns is a sim ple statem ent followed by
the pronoun that-]-noun (p ro n o u n )+ v erb to be (in the appropriate form),
for example:
Ju n e had answered in her im perious brisk way, like the little
em bodim ent of w ill that she was." (Galsworthy)
And Felix thought: She ju st w ants to talk to me about Derek,
Dog in the manger that I am .'"
b) A nother pattern is a question form w ith an exclam atory m eaning
expressing am azem ent, indignation, excitem ent, enjoym ent, etc., for
example:
Old ladies, Do I ever hate them?"
He said in an aw estruck voice: Boy, is that a piece o f boat!'"
And boy, could that g u y spend money'"
And was Edward pleased
Look, she said. Isnt th a t your boss there, just com ing in?
My God! Y es, said Lute, Oh, and has he a nice package?
Ill say. T h a ts his wife w ith him , isnt it? (OH ara)
A w itch she is. I know her back in the old country. Sure, and
d id n 't she come over on the same boat as m yself? (B etty Sm ith)
Note th at th is p attern is generally preceded by an exclam atory word,
or an interjection, or the conjunction and in the same function.
c) The th ird p attern is a m orphological one (generally use of contin
uous forms), but m entioned here because it is closely connected with
syntactical structures, im ersions, repetitions and others, for example:
230

You are nut being silly, are you? (Leslie Ford)

Now we're not going to have any more of th at, Mrs E uston.
(OH ara)
d)
The fourth p attern , also very common in colloquial English, is a
construction where a noun or pronoun subject followed by the verbs to
have (noun-(-object) or to be (noun-j-predicative) ends w ith the two com
ponents in inverted order, for exam ple:
She had a high colour, had S a lly."
He has a rath er curious sm ile, has m y friend.
She is a great comfort to me, is that lass." (Cronin)
Som etim es though, the noun or pronoun subject is predicated by
notional verbs. In this case to do is used in this trailin g em phatic phrase,
as in:
H e fair beats me, does Jam es Brodie." (Cronin)
N egative forms are frequently used to indicate an em otional ou t
burst of the speaker, for instance:
You dont say!
I do say. I tell you Im a student of this. (J. Steinbeck)
D ont be surprised if he doesnt visit you one of these days.
( = i f he visits you)
The em phasis is weaker in the second example.
The basic p attern s of em otional colloquial constructions enum erated
above have a p articu larly strong sty listic effect when they are used in
the au th o rs speech. The explanation of this must be sought in the wellknown dichotom y of the oral vs the w ritten variety of language.
As has been previously pointed out, the oral variety has, as one of
its distinctive features, an em otional character revealed m ostly in the
use of special em otive words, intensifiers and additional sem anticizing
factors caused by intonation and voice qualities. The w ritten variety is
more intellectual; it is reasoned and, ideally, is non-em otional. So when
such constructions have travelled from their hom eland dialogue
into the au th o rs dom ain monologue , they assume the q u ality of an
SD. Some of the exam ples given above illu strate this w ith sufficient
clarity .
Among other cases of the p articu lar use of colloquial constructions
are 1) ellipsis, 2) break-in-the-narrative, 3) question-in-the-narrative,
and 4) represented speech.
Ellipsis
\ - E l l i p s i s is a typical phenom enon in conversation, arising out of
the situation"^ We m entioned this peculiar feature of the spoken language
when we characterized its essential qualities and properties.
But this typical feature of the spoken language assumes a new qual
ity w'hen used in the w ritten language. It becomes a sty listic device
231

inasm uch as it supplies suprasegm ental inform ation. An elliptical sentence

in direct intercourse is not a sty listic device. It is sim ply a norm of the
spoken language. "17
Let us take a few examples.
So Ju stic e O berw altzersolem nly and did actically from his
high seat to the ju ry . (Dreiser)
One feels very acutely the absence of the predicate in this sentence.
W hy was it om itted? Did the author pursue any special purpose in leav
ing out a prim ary member of the sentence? Or is it ju st due to careless
ness? The answer is obvious: it is a deliberate device. This particu lar
model of sentence suggests the au th o rs personal state of m ind, viz. his
indignation at the shameless speech of the Ju stice. It is a common fact th at
any excited state of m ind wilj m anifest itself in some kind of violation of
the recognized literary sentence structure.
^E llip sis, when used as a stylistic device, alw ays im itates the com
mon features of colloquial language, where the situ atio n predeterm ines
not the om ission of certain members of the sentence, but th eir absence.
It would perhaps be adequate to call sentences lacking certain members
incom plete sentences, leaving the term e l l i p s i s to specify stru c
tures where we recognize a digression from the trad itio n al literary sen
tence structure.-^
Thus the sentences See you to-m orrow ., H ad a good tim e?, W ont
d o ., You say th a t? are typical of the colloquial language. N othing is
om itted here. These are norm al syntactical structures in the spoken
language and to call them ellip tic al, m eans to judge every sentence
stru ctu re according to the structural models of the w ritten language.
Likewise, such sentences as the following can hardly be called elliptical.
There's somebody w ants to speak to you.
There was no breeze came through the open window,(Hem ingway)
Theres m any a man in this Borough would be glad to have the
blood th a t runs in m y veins. (Cronin)
The relativ e pronouns who, which, who after som ebody, breeze,
a m an in this B orough could not be regarded as om itted this is
th e norm of colloquial language, though now not in frequent use except,
perhaps, w ith the there is (are) constructions as above. This is due, per
haps, to th e stan d ardizing power of the literary language. 0 - Jespersen,
in his analysis of such structures, writes:
If we speak here of om ission or su b au d itio n or ellip sis, the
reader is ap t to get the false im pression th a t the fuller expression is
the better one as being com plete, and th a t the shorter expression is to
some ex ten t fau lty or defective, or som ething th a t has come into
existence in recent times out of slovenliness. This is wrong: the const
ructions are very old in the language and have not come into existence
through the dropping of a previously necessary relative pronoun. 4
1 Jespersen, 0 . A M odern Englibh G ram m ar. Ldn, 1928, p art II I, p. 133.
232

H ere are some exam ples quoted by Jespersen:

" I bring him news w ill raise his drooping sp irits.
. .or like the snow falls in the riv er.
. . .when at her door arose a clatter m ight aw ake the dead.
However, when th e reader encounters such structures in literary
tex ts, even though they aim at representing the lively norm s of the spoken
language, he is ap t to regard them as bearing some definite stylistic
function. This is due to a psychological effect produced by the relative
ra rity of the construction, on the one hand, and the non-expectancy of any
strik in g ly colloquial expression in literary n arrative.
It m ust be repeated here th a t the most characteristic feature of the
w ritten v ariety of language is am plification, which by its very n atu re is
opposite to ellipsis. A m plification generally dem ands expansion of t i e
ideas w ith as full and as exact relatio n s between the parts cf the utterance
as possible. E llipsis, on the contary, being the property of colloquial
language, does not express w hat can easily be supplied by the situation.
This is perhaps the reason th a t elliptical sentences are rarely used as
sty listic devices. Som etim es the omission of a link-verb adds em otional
colouring and makes the sentence sound more em phatic, as in these lines
from Byron:
Thrice happy he who, after survey
of the good com pany, can win a corner.
N o thing so d iffic u lt as a beginning.
Denotes how so ft the chin which bears his touch.
It is wrong to suppose th a t the om ission of the link-verbs in these
sentences is due to th e requirem ents of the rhythm .
yj

Break-in-the-Narrative (Aposiopesis)

V ^ A p o s i o p e s i s is a device which dictionaries define as A stop

ping short for rhetorical e ffe c t.! This is true. But this definition is too
general to disclose the sty listic functions of the device.
In the spoken v ariety of the, la^guage^ a break in the narrativ e is
usually caused by unw illingness 10 proceed; o r'b y the supposition that
w hat rem ains to be said can be understood by the im plication embodied
in w hat has been said; or by un certain ty as to w hat should be said.
In th e w ritten v ariety, a break in the narrativ e is alw ays a stylistic
device used for some sty listic effect. It is difficult, however, to draw' a hard
and fast d istinction between break-in-the-narrative as a typical feature
of lively colloquial language and as a specific sty listic device. The only
criterion which m ay serve as a guide is th a t in conversation the im plica
tion can be conveyed by an adequate gesture. In w riting it is the context,
which suggests th e adequate intonation, th a t is the only key to decoding
th e aposiopesis.
In th e following exam ple the im plication of the aposiopesis is a
warning:
233

If you continue your intem perate way of living, in six m onths

tim e ..
In the sentence:
You ju st come home or Ill . . .
the im plication is a threat. The seqogjl exam ple shows th at w ithout a
context the im plication can only bd"vague. B ut when one knows th a t the
words were said by an angry father to his son over the telephone the im
plication becomes apparent.
, ,
Aposiopesis is ^ sty listic syntactical device to convey to the reader
a very strong ujisdrge of em otions. The idea of this sty listic device is
th a t the speaker cannot proceed, his feelings depriving him of the ab ility
t ) express him self in term s of language. Thus in Don J u a n s address to
J u lia , who is left behind:
And oh! if e er 1 should forget, I swear
B ut th a ts im possible, and cannot be. (Byron)
B reak-in-the-narrative has a strong degree of pred ictab ility , which
is ensured by the stru ctu re of the sentence. As a sty listic device it is
used in com plex sentences, in particu lar in conditional sentences, the
t'/-clause being given in full and the second part only im plied.
However, aposiopesis may be noted in different syntactical structures.
Thus, one of S helleys poems is en title d To, which is an aposiopesis of a different character, inasm uch as the im plication here is so
vague th at it can be likened to a secret code. Indeed, no one except those
in the know would be able to find out to whom the poem was addressed.
Som etim es a break in the n arrativ e is caused by euphem istic consid
erations^um villingness to nam e a thing on the ground of its being offen
sive to th e ear, for example:
Then, M am m a, I hardly like to let the words cross my lips, but
they have wicked, wicked attra ctio n s out there like dancing
girls th a tth a t charm snakes and dance w ithoutMiss Moir with
downcast eyes, broke off significantly and blushed, w hilst the down
on her upper lip quivered m odestly. (Cronin)
B reak-in-the-narrative is a device vyhiqh, op the one hand, offers a
num ber of \a ria n ts in deciphering the im plication and, on the other,
is highly predictable. The problem of im plication is, as it were, a crucial
one in sty listics. W hat is im plied som etimes outweighs w hat is expressed.
In other sty listic devices the degree of im plication is not so high as in
break-in-the n arrativ e. A sudden break in the n arrativ e will inevitably
focus the atten tio n on w hat is left unsaid. Therefore the interrelation
between w hat is given and what is new becomes more significant, inasmuch
as the given is w'hat is said and the neww hat is left unsaid. There is a
phrase in colloquial English which has become very fam iliar:
Good intentions b u t
The im plication here is th at nothing has come of w hat it was planned to
accom plish.
234

Aposiopesis is a sty listic device in which the role of the intonation

im plied cannot be over-estim ated. The pause after the break is generally
charged w ith m eaning and it is the intonation only th a t will decode the
com m unicative significance of the utterance.
Quest ion- i n- the- N a rrat i ve
Q uestions, being both stru ctu ra lly and sem antically one of the types
of sentences, are asked by one person and expected to be answered by
another. This is the m ain, and the most characteristic property of the
question i.e. it exists as a syntactical unit of language to bear this p artic
u lar function in com m unication. E ssentially, questions belong to the
spoken language and presuppose the presence of an interlocutor, th at is,
they are com m only encountered in dialogue. The questioner is presumed
not to know the answer.
Q u e s t i o n - i n - t h e - n a r r a t i v e changes the real n ature of
a question and turns it into a sty listic device. A question in the n arrativ e
is asked and answered by one and the sam e person, usually the author.
ft becomes akin to a parenthetical statem ent w ith strong em otional
im plications. Here are some cases of question-in-the-narrative taken
from B yrons Don J u a n :
1) For w hat is le ft the poet here?
For Greeks a blush for Greece a tear.
2) A nd startin g , she awoke, and w hat to view?
Oh, Powers of Heaven. W hat dark eye meets she there?
Tis tis her fath ersfix d upon the pair.
As is seen from these exam ples,U he questions asked, unlike rhetorical
questions (see p. 244), do not contain statem ents., B ut being answered
by one who knows the answer, they assume a sem i-exclam atory nature,
as in w hat to v iew ? 0
Som etim es question-in-the-narrative gives the im pression of an in ti
m ate ta lk between the w riter and the reader. For exam ple:
Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could i t be
otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I dont know howr many
years. (Dickens)
Q uestion-in-the-narrative is very often used in oratory. This is ex
plained by one of th e leading features of oratorical style to induce the de
sired reaction to the content of the speech. Questions here chain the a tte n
tion of the listeners to the m atter the orator is dealing w ith and prevent
it from w'andering. They also give th e listeners tim e to absorb w hat has
been said, and prepare for the next point.
Q uestion-in-the n arrativ e m ay also rem ain unansw ered, as in:
How long must it go on? How long must we suffer? Where is the
end? W hat is the end? (Norris)
These sentences show a gradual transition to rhetorical questions.
There are only h ints of the possible answers. Indeed, the first and the
235

second questions suggest th a t the existing state of affairs should be put

an end to and th at we should not suffer any longer. The th ird and the
fourth questions suggest th a t the orator him self could not find a solutfon to
the problem.
The specific n atu re of interrogative sentences, w rites P. S. P o
pov, which are transitional stages from w hat we know to w hat we
do not yet know, is reflected in the interconnection between the
question and th e answer. The interrogative sentence is connected
w ith the answer-sentence far more closely than the inference is con
nected w ith two interrelated pronouncem ents, because each of the two
pronouncem ents has its own significance; whereas the significance of
th e interrogative sentence is only in the process of seeking the
answer. 1
This very interesting statem ent concerning the psychological nature
of th e question however, does not take into consideration the stim ulating
aspect of the question.
W hen a question begins to fulfil a function not directly arising from
its linguistic and psychological nature, it m ay have a certain volum e of
em otional charge. Q uestion-in-the-narrative is a case of this kind. Here
its function deviates slightly from its general signification.
This deviation (being in fact a m odification of the general function
of interrogative sentences) is much more clearly apparent in rhetorical
questions.
Represented Speech
There are three ways of reproducing actual spech: a) repetition
of th e exact utterance as it was spoken ( d i r e c t s p e e c h ) , b) con
version of the exact utterance into the re la te rs mode of expression (i nd i r e c t s p e e c h ) , and c) representation of the actual utterance by a
second person, usually the author, as if it had been spoken, whereas it
has not really been spoken but is only represented in the au th o rs words
(r e p r e s e n t e d s p e e c h ) .
There is also a device which conveys to the reader the unuttered or
inner speech of the character, thus presenting his thoughts and feelings.
This device is also term ed represented speech. To distinguish between
th e two varieties of represented speech we call the representation of the
actual utterance through the au th o rs language u t t e r e d r e p r e
s e n t e d s p e e c h , and the representation of the thoughts and feelings
of the character u n u t t e r e d
or i n n e r
represented

speech.
The term d i r e c t s p e e c h came to be used in the belles-lettres
sty le in order to distinguish the words of the character from the au th o rs
words. A ctually, direct speech is a quotation. Therefore it is always in
troduced by a verb like say, utter, declare, reply, exclaim, shout, cry,
yell, gasp, babble, chuckle, m urm ur, sigh, call, beg, implore, comfort.
1 . . . .:
. ., 1950, . 20.

23G

assure, p rotest, object, command, a d m it, and others. All these words help to
indicate the intonation w ith which the sentence was ac tu ally uttered.
Direct speech is alw ays m arked by inverted commas, as any quotation is.
H ere is an example:
You w ant your m oney back, I suppose, said George with a sneer.
Of course I do I alw ays did, d id n t I? says Dobbin.
(Thackeray)
The most im portant feature of the spoken language intonation
is indicated by different means. In the exam ple above we have 1) graph
ical means: th e dash after I do, 2) lexical: the word sneer, and
3) gram m atical: a) m orphological different tenses of the verb to say
(said and says), b) syntactical: the disjunctive question d id n t I?.
D irect speech is som etim es used in the publicistic style of language
as a quotation. The introductory words in this case are usually the follow
ing: a s .. . has it, according t o .. ., and the like.
In th e belles-lettres style direct speech is used to depict a character
through his speech.
In the em otive prose of the belles-lettres style where the predom inant
form of utterance is narrative, direct speech is inserted to more fully de
p ict the characters of the novel. In the other variety of the belles-lettres
prose sty le, i.e. in plays, th e predom inant form of utterance is dialogue.
In spite of the various graphical and lexical ways of indicating the
proper intonation of a given utterance, the subtleties of the intonation
design required by the situation cannot be accurately conveyed. The
richness of the hum an voice can only be suggested.
D irect speech can be viewed as a sty listic device only in its setting
in th e m idst of the au th o rs n arrativ e or in contrast to all forms of indi
rect speech. Even when an author addresses the reader, we cannot classify
the utterance as direct speech. D irect speech is only the speech of a char
acter in a piece of em otive prose.
We have i n d i r e c t s p e e c h when the actual words of a character,
as it were, pass through the au th o rs m outh in the course of his narrativ e
and in this process undergo certain changes. The intonation of J n d ire c t
speech is even and does not differ from the rest of the a u th o r^n arrativ e.
The graphical su b stitutes for the intonation give way to lexical units
which describe the intonation pattern. Som etim es indirect speech takes
the form of a precis in which only the m ain points of the actual utterance
are given. Thus, for instance, in the following passage:
M arshal asked the crowd to disperse and urged responsible diggers
to prevent any disturbance which would prolong the tragic force of
the rush for which the publication of inaccurate inform ation was chiefly
responsible. (K atherine P richard)
In gram m ars there are rules according to which direct speech can
be converted in to indirect. These rules are logical in character, they
m erely indicate what changes m ust be introduced into the utterance
due to change in the situ atio n . Thus the sentence:
237

Your m other w ants you to go upstairs im m ediately corresponds

to Tell him to come upstairs im m ediately."
W hen direct speech is converted into indirect, the author not infre
q uently interprets in his own w'ay the m anner in which the direct speech
was uttered, thus very often changing the em otional colouring of the
whole. Hence, indirect speech m ay fail en tirely to reproduce the actual
em otional colouring of the direct speech and may d istort it unrecogniza
bly. A change of m eaning is inevitable w'hen direct speech is turned into
indirect or vice versa, inasm uch as any m odification of form calls forth a
slight difference in meaning.
It is probably due to this fact th a t in order to convey more adequately
the actual utterances of characters in em otive prose, a new w'ay to re
present direct speech came into being r e p r e s e n t e d s p e e c h .
Represented speech is th at form of utterance which conveys the actual
words of the speaker through the m outh of the w riter but retains the pecu
liarities of the speakers mode of expression.
Represented speech exists in two varieties: 1) uttered represented
speech and 2) unuttered or inner represented speech.
a) Uttered Represented Speech

U t t e r e d r e p r e s e n t e d s p e e c h dem ands th a t the tense

should be switched from present to past and th at the personal pronouns
should be changed from 1st and 2nd person to 3rd person as in indirect
speech, but the syntactical structure of the utterance does not change.
For example:
Could he bring a reference from where he now' was? H l could."
(Dreiser)
An interesting exam ple of three ways of representing actual speech
is to be seen in a conversation between Old Jolyon and Ju n e in G als
w orthys Man of P roperty.
Old Jolyon w-as on the alert at once. W a sn 't the man of property
going to live in his new house, then? He never alluded to Soames
now' but under this title .
N o ' June said he w'as not; she knew th at he was not I
How' did she know?
She could not tell him , but she knew. She knew nearly for certain.
It w'as most unlikely; circum stances had changed!
The first sentence is the au th o rs speech. In the second sentence W asn't
the m a n .. . there is uttered represented speech: the actual speech must
have been Is n 't t h e . . . . This sentence is followed by one from the au
thor: He never. . . . Then again comes uttered represented speech m arked
off in inverted commas, w'hich is not usual. The direct speech No , the
introductory Ju n e sa id and the following inverted commas m ake the
sentence half direct half uttered represented speech. The next sentence
How did she know? and the following one are clear-cut models of uttered
represented speech: all the peculiarities of direct speech are preserved,
238

i e. th e rep etitio n of she knew , the colloquial n early for certain , the
absence of any connective between the last two sentences and, finally,
the m ark of exclam ation at the end of the passage. And yet the tenses and
pronouns here show th a t the actual utterance passes through the au th o rs
m outh.
Two more exam ples will suffice to illu stra te the use of uttered repre
sented speech.
A m aid came in now w ith a blue gown very thick and soft. Could
she do anyth in g for M iss Freeland? No, thanks, she could not, only,
did she know where M r. Freeland's room was?
(Galsworthy)
The shift from the a u th o rs speech to the uttered represented speech
of th e m aid is m arked only by the change in the syntactical p attern of
the sentences from declarative to interrogative, or from the narrativ e
p attern to the conversational.
Sometim es the shift is alm ost im perceptiblethe a u th o rs narrative
sliding over into the ch aracters utterance w ithout any formal indications
of th e switch-over, as in the following passage:
She had known him for a full year when, in London for a while
and as usual alone, she received a note from him to say th at he had to
come up to town for a night and couldnt they dine together and go to
some place to dance. She thought it very sweet of him to take p ity on
her solitariness and accepted w ith pleasure. They spent a delightful
evening. (Maugham)
This m anner of inserting uttered represented speech w ithin the au
th o rs n arrativ e is not common. It is peculiar to the style of a num ber of
modern English and Am erican w riters. The more usual structural model
is one where there is either an indication of the shift by some introduc
tory word (smiled, said, asked, etc.) or by a formal break like a full stop
at the end of the sentence, as in:
In consequence he was quick to suggest a w a lk ... D id n t Clyde
w ant to go? (Dreiser)
U ttered represented speech has a long history. As far back as the
18th century it was already w idely used by m en-of-Ietters, evidently b e
cause it was a means by which w hat was considered vulgar m ight be
excluded from literature, i.e. expletives, vivid colloquial words, expres
sions and syntactical structures typical of the lively colloquial speech of
the period. Indeed, when direct speech is represented by the w riter, he
can change the actual utterance into any mode of expression he considers
appropriate.
In F ieldings H istory of Tom Jones the Foundling we find v a ri
ous ways of introducing uttered represented speech. H ere are some in ter
esting exam ples:
W hen dinner was over, and the servants departed, Mr. A lworthy
began to harangue. H e set forth, in a long speech, the m any ini

239

quities of which Jones had been g u ilty , p artic u la rly those which
th is d ay h ad brought to light; and concluded by telling him , jT h a t
unless he could clear him self of the charge, he was resolved to
banish him from his sight for ever.
In this passage there is practically no represented speech, inasm uch
as the words m arked off by inverted com m as are indirect speech, i.e.
th e au th o rs speech w ith no elem ents of the characters speech, and the
only signs of the change in the form of the utterance are the inverted
commas and cap ital letter of T h a t. The following paragraph is b u ilt
on the same p attern .
H is heart was, besides, alm ost broken already; and his sp irits
were so sunk, th a t he could say nothing for him self but acknowledge
the whole, and, like a crim inal in despair, threw him self upon mercy;
concluding, th a t though he m ust own him self g u ilty of m any follies
and inadvertencies, he hoped he had done nothing to deserve w hat
would be to him the greatest punishm ent in the w orld.
Here again the introductory concluding does not bring forth direct
speech b u t is a natu ral continuation of the au th o rs n arrative. The only
indication of the change are the inverted commas.
Mr. A lw orthys answer is also b u ilt on the same p attern , the only
m odification being the direct speech a t the end.
A lw orthy answered, T hat he had forgiven him too often
already, in compassion to his youth, and in hopes of his am end
m ent: th at he now found he was an abandoned reprobate, and such
as it would be crim inal in any one to support and encourage, N a y ,
said Mr. A lw orthy to him , your audacious a ttem p t to steal aw ay
the young lady, calls upon me to ju stify m y own character in p u n i
shing you.
Then follows a long speech by Mr. A lw orthy not differing from indi
rect speech (the au th o rs speech) either in structural design or in the choice
of words. A critical analysis will show th a t the direct speech of the
characters in the novel m ust have undergone considerable polishing up in
order to force it to conform to the literary norm s of the period. Colloquial
speech, em otional, inconsistent and spontaneous, w ith its vivid intona
tion suggested by elliptical sentences, breaks in the narrative, fragm enta
riness and lack of connectives, was banned from literary usage and re
placed by the passionless su b stitu te of indirect speech.
Almost in any work of 18th century literary art one will find th a t
the spoken language is adapted to conform to the norm s of the w ritten
language of the period. It was only at the beginning of the 19th century
th at the elem ents of colloquial English began to elbow their way into
the sacred precincts of the English literary language. The more the process
became ap p aren t, the m ore the conditions th at th is created became fa
vourable for the introduction of uttered represented speech as a literary
device.
240

In the modern belles-lettres prose style, the speech of the characte s

is m odelled on natural colloquial patterns. The device of uttered repre
sented speech enables the w riter to reshape the utterance according to the
norm al p o lite literary usage.
Nowadays, th is device is used not only in the belles-lettres style.
It is also efficiently used in new spaper style. H ere is an exam ple:
Mr. Silverm an, his P arliam en tary language scarcely conceal
ing his b itte r disappointm ent, accused the governm ent of breaking
its pledge and of v io latin g constitutional proprieties.
Was the governm ent basing its policy not cn the considered
judgem ent of the House of Commons, but on the considered judge
m ent of the House of Lords?
Would it not be a grave breach of constitutional duty, not to
give the House a reasonable o p p o rtu n ity of exercising its rights
under the P arliam ent A ct?
W ait for the term s of the B ill, was E dens re p ly .
U ttered represented speech in newspaper com m unications is some
w hat different from th at in the belles-lettres style. In the former, it is
generally used to quote the words of speakers in P arliam en t or at public
m eetings.
b) U nuttered or Inner Represented Speech

As has often been pointed out, language has two functions: the com
m u n icative and the expressive. The com m unicative function serves to
convey ones thoughts, volitions, em otions and orders to the m ind of a
second person. The expressive function serves to shape ones thoughts and
em otions into language forms. This second function is believed to be the
only way of m aterializing thoughts and em otions. W ithout language forms
thought is not yet thought but only som ething being shaped as thought.
The thoughts and feelings going on in ones m ind and reflecting s me
previous experience are called i n n e r s p e e h.
Inasm uch as inner speech has no com m unicative function, it is very
fragm entary, incoherent, isolated, and consists of separate un its which
only h in t at the content of the utterance but do not word it explicitly.
Inner speech is a psychological phenomenon. B ut when it is w rought
into full utterance, it ceases to be inner speech, acquires a com m unicative
function and becomes a phenom enon of language. The expressive function
of language is suppressed by its com m unicative function, and the reader
is presented w ith a com plete language unit capable of carrying inform a
tion. This device is called i n n e r r e p r e s e n t e d s p e e c h .
However, the language forms of inner represented speech bear a
resem blance to the psychological phenom enon of inner speech. Inner
represented speech retains the m ost characteristic features of inner
speech. It is also fragm entary, but only to an extent which w ill not
hinder the understanding of the com m unication.
Inner represented speech, unlike uttered represented speech, ex
presses feelings and thoughts of the character which were not m a te ria l

ized in spoken or w ritten language by the character. T hat is why it

abounds in exclam atory words and phrases, ellip tical constructions,
breaks, arid other m eans of conveying feelings and psychological states.
W hen a person is alone w ith his thoughts and feelings, he can give vent to
those strong em otions which he usually keeps hidden. Here is an exam ple
from G alsw orthys Man of P roperty:
H is nervousness about this disclosure irritated him profoundly;
she had no business to m ake him feel like that-a wife and a hus
band being one person. She had not looked at him once since they
sat down, and he wondered w hat on earth she had been thin k in g
about all the tim e. It was hard, when a m an worked hard as he did,
m aking money for her yes and w ith an ache in his heart th a t
she should sit there, looking looking as if she saw the w alls of
the room closing in. It was enough to m ake a m an get up and leave
the tab le.
The inner speech of Soames Forsyte is here introduced by two words
describing his state of m ind irrita te d and w ondered. The colloquial
aspect of the language in which Soam ess thoughts and feelings are ex
pressed is obvious. He uses colloquial collocations: she had no business,
wdiat on e a rth , like th a t and colloquial constructions: yes and w ith ...,
lookinglooking as if . . . , and the words used are common colloquial.
U nuttered or inner represented speech follows the same m orphological
p attern as uttered represented speech, but the syntactical p attern shows
variatio n s which can be accounted for by the fact th at it is inner speech,
not u ttered speech. The tense forms are shifted to the past; the th ird per
son personal pronouns replace the first and second. The interrogative
word-order is m aintained as in direct speech. The fragm entary character
of the utterance m anifests itself in unfinished sentences, exclam ations
and in one-mem ber sentences.
Here is another exam ple:
An idea had occurred to Soames. H is cousin Jolyon was Irenes
trustee, the first step would be to go down and see him at R obin
H ill. R obin Hill! The odd the very odd feeling those W'ords brought
back. Robin H ill the house Bosinney had b u ilt for him and Irene
the house they had never lived in the fatal house! And Jolyon
lived there now! H m ! (Galsworthy)
T his device is undoubtedly a n excellent one to depict a character.
It gives the w riter an opportunity to show the inner springs which guide
his ch aracters actions and utterances. Being a com bination of the au
th o rs speech and th at of the character, inner represented speech, on the
one hand, fully discloses the feelings and thoughts of the character, his
world outlook, and, on the other hand, through efficient and som etimes
hardly perceptible interpolations by the author him self, m akes the de
sired im pact on the reader.
In English and Am erican lite ratu re this device has gained vogue in
the works of the w riters of the last two centuriesJa n e A usten, Thacke
ray, Dickens, C h arlotte and E m ily B ronte, Ja c k London, Galsworthy,
242

Dreiser, Somerset M augham and others. E very w riter has his own way
of using represented speech. Careful linguistic analysis of individual
p ecu liarities in using it w ill show its wide range of function and will
expand the h ith erto lim ited notions of its use.
Inner represented speech, unlike uttered represented speech, is usually
introduced by verbs of m ental perception, as think, meditate, feel, occur
(an idea occurred to ...), wonder, ask, tell oneself, understand and the like.
For exam ple:
O ver and over he was asking himself: would she receive him ?
w ould she recognize him ? w hat should he say to her?
W hy w erent things going well between them ? he wondered.
V ery frequently, however, inner represented speech th ru sts itself
into the n arrativ e of the au th o r w ithout any introductory words and
the shift from the au th o rs speech to inner represented speech is more
or less im perceptible. Som etim es the one glides into the other, sometimes
there is a sudden clear-cut change in the mode of expression. H ere are
exam ples:
B utler was sorry th at he had called his youngest a baggage;
but these children God bless his soulwere a great annoyance.
W hy, in th e nam e of all the saints, w asnt this house good enough
for them ? (Dreiser)
The only indication of the transfer from the a u th o rs speech to inner
represented speech is the sem icolon w hich suggests a longish pause.
The em otional tension of the inner represented speech is enhanced by
the em phatic these (in these children'), by the exclam atory sentences
God bless his soul and in the nam e of all the sain ts. This em otional
charge gives an ad d itio n al shade of m eaning to the was so rry in the au
th o rs statem en t, viz. B utler was sorry, but he was also try in g to justify
him self for calling his daughter nam es.
And here is an exam ple of a practically im perceptible shift:
Then, too, in old Jo ly o n s m ind was alw ays the secret ache
th a t th e son of Jam esof Jam es, whom he had alw ays thought
such a poor thing, should be pursuing the paths of success, w hile
his ow n son ! (Galsworthy)
In th is passage there are hardly any signs of the shift except, per
haps, the rep etitio n of the words of Jam es. Then comes w hat is half
the au th o rs n arrativ e, half the thoughts of the character, the inner
speech com ing to the surface in poor th in g (a colloquialism ) and the
sudden break after his own son and the m ark of exclam ation.
Inner represented speech rem ains the m onopoly of the belles-lettres
style, and especially of em otive prose, a variety of it. There is hardly
a ny likelihood of th is device being used in other styles, due to its spe
cific function, w hich is to penetrate into the inner life of the personages
f an im aginary w orld, which is the exclusive dom ain of belles-lettres.
243

F. STYLISTIC USE OF STRUCTURAL MEANING

On analogy w ith transference of lexical m eaning in which words

are used o ther th an in their prim ary logical sense, syntactical structures
may also be used in m eanings other th an their prim ary ones. E very syn
tactical stru ctu re has its definite function, which is som etim es called its
s t r u c t u r a l m e a n i n g . W hen a structure is used in some o ther
function it m ay be said to assume a new m ean ng which is sim ilar to
lexical transferred m eaning.
Among syntactical sty listic devices there are two in which this tran s
ference of stru ctu ral m eaning is to be seen. They are rhetorical questions
and litotes.
Rhetorical Questions
\ . T h e r h e t o r i c a l q u e s t i o n is a special syntactical sty listic
device the essence of which consists in reshaping the gram m atical m ean
ing of the interrogative sentence?]In other words, the question is no
longer a question but a statem ent expressed in the form of an interroga
tive sentence. Thus there is an interplay of two stru ctu ral meanings:
1) th at of the question and 2) th a t of the statem ent (either affirm ative
or negative). B oth are m aterialized sim ultaneously. For exam ple:
A re these the rem edies for a starving and desperate populace?
Is there not blood enough upon your penal code, th a t m ore m ust
be poured forth to ascend to H eaven and testify against you?
(Byron)
One can agree w ith Prof. Popov who states: ...th e rhetorical question
is equal to a categorical pronouncem ent plus an exclam ation 1 Indeed,
if u'e com pare a pronouncem ent expressed as a statem ent w ith the same
pronouncem ent expressed as a rhetorical question by m eans of transfor
m ational analysis, we w ill find ourselves com pelled to assert th at the
interrogative form m akes the pronouncem ent still more categorical, in
th at it excludes any interp retatio n beyond th at contained in the rh e to ri
cal question.
_
From the exam ples given above, we can see thatV rhetorical ques
tions are generally stru ctu rally em bodied in complex sentences w ith
the subordinate clause containing the pronouncem ent) Here is another
example:
...S h a ll the sons of Chimary
Who never forgive the fau lt of a friend
B id an enemy liv e?... (Byron)
W ithout the a ttrib u tiv e clause the rhetorical question w'ould lose
its specific q u ality and m ight be regarded as an ordinary question. The
subordinate clause, as it were, signalizes the rhetorical question. The
m eaning of the above utterance can h ard ly fail to be understoodj i.e.
The sons of C him ary w ill never bid an enemy live.
1 Op. cit., p. 20.
244

 There is another stru ctu ral p attern of rhetorical questions, which

is based-on negation. In th is case the question m ay be a sim ple sentence,
as in: J
D id not the Italian Mosico Cazzani
S in g at m y heart six m onths at least in vain? (Byron)
H ave I not had to w restle w ith m y lot?
H ave I not suffered things to be fcrgiven? (Byron)
N egative-interrogative sentences generally have a peculiar nature.
There is alw ays an ad ditional shade of m eaning im plied in them : some
tim es doubt, som etim es assertion, som etim es suggestion. In o th er words,
they are full of em otive m eaning and m odality.
We have already stated th a t rhetorical questions m ay be looked upon
as a transference of gram m atical m eaning. B ut just as in the case of the
transference of lexical m eaning, the sty listic effect of the transference
of gram m atical m eaning can only be achieved if there is a sim ultaneous
realizatio n of the two m eanings: direct and transferred. So it is w ith
rhetorical questions. Both the question-m eaning and the statem entm eaning are m aterialized w ith an em otional charge, the w eight of which
can be judged by the intonation of the speaker.
The in to n atio n of rhetorical questions, according to the m ost recent
investigations, differs m aterially from the intonation of ordinary ques
tions. This is also an ad d itio n al indirect proof of the double n ature of
th is sty listic device. In the question-sentence
Is the poor privilege to tu rn the key
Upon the captive, freedom? (Byron)
instead of a categorical pronouncem ent one can detect irony.
A more detailed analysis of the sem antic aspect of different questionsentences leads to the conclusion th at these stru ctu ral m odels have v a ri
ous functions. Not only ordinary questions, not only categorical pronounce
m ents are expressed in question form. In fact there are various nuances
of em otive m eaning em bodied in question-sentences. We have already
given an exam ple of one of these m eanings, viz. irony. In Shakespeares
Who is here so vile th a t will not love his country?
there is a m eaning of challenge openly and unequivocally declared. It
is im possible to regard it as a rhetorical question m aking a categorical
pronouncem ent. In the rhetorical question from B yrons m aiden speech
given above (Is there not b lo o d ...) there is a clear im plication of scorn
and contem pt for P arliam ent and the laws it passes.
Sd[rhetorical questions m ay also be defined as utterances in the form
of questions which pronounce judgem ents and also express various kinds
of modal shades of m eaning, as doubt, challenge, scorn, irony and so on.
It has been stated elsewhere th at questions are m ore em otional than
statem ents. W hen a question is repeated, as in these lines from P oes
The R aven:
Is there is there balm in Gilead?! Tell me
tell me I im plore!

245

the degree of em otiveness increases and the p artic u la r shade of m eaning

(in th is case, despair) becomes more apparent.
The rhetorical question re-enforces this essential quality of interrog
a tiv e sentences and uses it to convey a stronger shade of em otive m ean
ing. R hetorical questions, due to their power of expressing a v arie ty
of modal shades of m eaning, are most often used in publicistic style
and p articu larly in o ratory, where the rousing of em otions is the effect
generally aim ed at.
Litotes I

v 5

L i t o t e s is a sty listic device consisting of a peculiar use of nega

tive constructions. The negation plus noun or adjective serves to establish
a positive feature in a person or thing. This positive feature, however, is
som ew har diimnisficd in qu ality as com pared,w ith a synonym ous expres
sion m aking a straightforw ard assertion of the positive feature. Let us
com pare the following two pairs of sentences:
1. I t s not a bad th ing. I t s a good thing.
2. He is no coward. H e is a brave man.
N ot bad is not equal to good although the two constructions are synon
ymous. The same can be said about the second pair, no coward and a
brave man. In both cases the negative construction is weaker th a n the
affirm ative one. S till we cannot say th at the two negative constructions
produce a lesser effect than the corresponding affirm ative ones. Moreover,
it should be noted th at the negative constructions here have a stronger
im pact on the reader th an the affirm ative ones. The latter have no a d d i
tional connotation; the former have. T hat is why such constructions are
regarded as sty listic devices. L itotes is a deliberate understatem ent used
to produce a sty listic effect. It is not a pure negation, but a negation th a t
includes affirm ation. Therefore here, as in the case of rhetorical questions,
we m ay speak of transference of m eaning, i.e. a device w ith the help
of which two m eanings are m aterialized sim ultaneously: the direct (neg
ative) and transferred, ^affirm ative).
So the negation in litotes m ust not be regarded as a mere denial of the
qu ality m entioned. The structural aspect of the negative com bination
backs up the sem antic aspect: the negatives no and not are m ore em p h ati
cally pronounced th an in ordinary negative sentences, thus bringing to
m ind the corresponding antonym .
The sty listic effect of litotes depends m ainly on intonation. If we
com pare two in to n atio n patterns, one which suggests a mere denial
( I t is not bad as a contrary to I t is bad) w ith the o ther which suggests the
assertion of a positive quality of the object ( I t is not b a d = it is good),
the difference w ill become apparent. The degree to which litotes carries
the positive q u ality in itself can be estim ated by analysing the sem antic
structure of the word which is negated.
Let us exam ine the following sentences in which litotes is used:
1. W hatever defects the tale possessedand they were not a few
it had, as delivered b\ her, the one m erit of seeming like tru th .
246

2.
3.
4.
5.

He was not without taste...

It troubled him not a little ...
He found th a t this was no easy task."
He was no gentle lamb, and the part of second fiddle w ould
never do for the high-pitched dom inance of his n atu re . (Jack
London)
6. She was w earing a fur coat... C arr, the enthusiastic appreciator
of sm art women and as good a judge of dress as any m an to be
m et in a P all Mall club, saw th a t she was no country cousin. She
had style, or devil, as he preferred to call it.

E v en a superfluous analysis of the litotes in the above sentences

clearly shows th a t the negation does not m erely indicate the absence
of the q u ality m entioned but suggests the presence of the opposite qual
ity. C harles B ally, a well-know n Swiss linguist, states th a t negative sen
tences are used w ith the purpose of refusing to affirm .
In sentences 5 and 6 where it is explained by the context, litotes re
veals its tru e function. The idea of no gentle lam b is further stren g th
ened by the high-pitched dom inance of his n atu re; the function and
m eaning of no country cousin is m ade clear by as good a judge of
d re ss..., she had s ty le .... Thus, like other sty listic devices, litotes dis
plays a sim ultaneous m aterializatio n of two meanings: one negative, the
o th er affirm ative. This interplay of two gram m atical m eanings is keenly
felt, so much so indeed, th a t the affirm ation suppresses the negation, the
la tte r being only the form in which the real pronouncem ent is m oulded.
A ccording to the science of logic negation as a category can hardly ex
press a pronouncem ent. O nly an assertion can do so. T hat is u'hy we m ay
say th at any negation only suggests an assertion.(L itotes is a m eans by
w'hich th is n atu ral logical and linguistic property- ot negation can be
strengthened. The two senses of the lito tic expression, negative and
positive, serve a definite sty listic purpose.
A v arian t of litotes is a construction w'ith two negations, as in not
unlike, not unpromising, not displeased and the like. H ere, according
to general logical and m athem atical principles, two negatives m ake a
positive. Thus in the sentenceSoames, w ith his lips and his squared
chin was not unlike a bull dog (G alsworthy), the litotes m ay be in ter
preted as som ewhat resem bling. In spite of the fact th a t such construc
tions m ake the assertion m ore logically apparent, they lack p recisio a They
m ay tru ly be regarded as deliberate understatem ents, whereas the p a t
tern stru ctu res of litotes, i.e. those th at have only one negative are much
m ore categorical in statin g the positive qu ality of a person or thing.
An interesting jest at the expense of an English statesm an who over
used the device of double negation w'as published in the Spectator, May
23, 1958. Here it is:
Anyway, as the pre-W hitsun dog-dajs barked them selves into
silence, a good deal of pleasure could be obtained by a connoisseur
who knew where to seek it. On M onday, for instance, from Mr.
Selwyn Lloyd. His trick of seizing upon a phrase th at has struck
him (erroneously, as a rule) as a happy one, and doggedly sticking
247

to it thereafter is one typical of a speaker who lacks all confidence.

On Monday it was not unprom ising; three tim es he declared th at
various aspects of the Sum m it preparations were not unprom is
ing, and I was m oved in the end to conclude th a t Mr. Lloyd is a
not unpoor Foreign Secretary, and th at if he should not unshortly
leave th at office the not unbetter it w ould be for all of us, not unhim
included.
L itotes is used in different styles of speech, excluding those which m ay
be called the m atter-of-fact styles, like official style and scientific prose.
In poetry it is som etim es used to suggest th a t language fails to adequately
convey the p o ets feelings and therefore he uses negations to express the
inexpressible. Shakespeares Sonnet No. 130 is to some extent illu stra tiv e
in th is respect. H ere all the hackneyed phrases used by the poet to depict
his beloved are negated w ith the purpose of showing the superiority of
th e earth ly qu alities of My m istress. The first line of this sonnet My
m istress eyes are n o thing like the su n is a clear-cut litotes although the
object to which the eyes are com pared is generally perceived as having
only positive qualities.

P A R T VI

FUNCTIONAL STYLES
OF THE ENGLI SH LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

We have already m entioned the problem of w hat is known as f u n ct i n a I s t y l e s (FS) of language (see p. 3235), but only to show
th a t FSs should be distinguished from varieties of language. The m ain
difference, be it rem em bered, is th a t th e w ritte n and oral varieties of lan
guage are m erely forms of com m unication which depend on the situ atio n
in which the com m unication is m aintained, i.e. on the presence or absence
of an interlocutor, whereas FSs are pattern s of the w ritten variety of
language calculated to secure the desired purport of the com m unication.
Each functional style of the literary language m akes use of language
m eans the in terrelatio n of which is peculiar to the given FS. It is the coor
dination of language m edia and SDs which shapes the distinctive features
of each style, and not the separate language m edia or the SDs themselves.
Each FS however, can be recognized by one or more leading, especially
conspicuous features. For instance, the use of special term inology is a
lexical characteristic of the F S o f scientific prose, and one by which it can
easily be recognized. The address D ear sirs w ill be a signal to refer
the message to the FS of official documents.
However, since any FS presents a system in which various features
are interw oven in a p articu lar m anner, one group of language m eans, a
leading feature though it m ay be, will not suffice to determ ine the FS.
Now we are in a position to give a more exact definition of a function
al style th an the one given on p. 3233.
An FS is a'patterned variety of literary text characterized by the
greater or lesser typification of its constituents, supra-phrasal units
(SPU), in which the choice and arrangement of interdependent and
interwoven language media are calculated to secure the purport of the
communication.
Each FS is a relativ ely stable system at the given stage in the devel
opm ent of the literary language, but it changes, and som etim es consider
ably, from one period to another. Therefore functional style of language
is a historical category. There are m any instances to prove this. Thus,
the FS of em otive prose ac tu ally began to function as an independent
style after the second half of the 16th century; the new'spaper style bud
ded off from the publicistic style; the oratorical style has undergone
considerable fundam ental changes, and so w ith other FSs.
/

2 4 9

The developm ent of each style is predeterm ined by the changes in

the norm s of stan d ard English.
It is also greatly influenced by changing social conditions, the pro
gress of science and the developm ent of cultural life in the country. For
instance, the em otive elem ents of language were abundantly used in
scientific prose in the 18th century. This is explained by the fact th at
scientists in m any fields used the em otional language instead of one more
logically precise and convincing, because they lacked the scientific d ata
ob tain ab le only by deep, prolonged research. W ith the developm ent of
science and the accum ulation of scientific data, em otive elem ents gave
way to convincing argum ents and stubborn facts.
The English literary language has evolved a num ber of FSs easily
distinguishable one from another. They are not homogeneous and fall
into several v arian ts all having some central point of resem blance, or
better to say, all integrated by the in v arian t i.e. the ab stract ideal
system .
We shall now consider each of the FSs in its m ost characteristic fea
tures.
A.

THE B E L L E S -L E T T R E S S TY LE

We have already pointed out that_the b e I l e s - l e t t r e s s t I e

is a generic term for three su b sh les irfw hich the maTn principles and the
TTTOst general properties of the style are m aterialized. These three sub
styles a re:
\p i'(
. T h e l a n g u a g e o f p e t r y, or sim ply verse.
2. E m t i v e p r o s e , or the language of fiction. [ 3. T h e l a n g u a g e o f t h e d r a m a .
Each of these substyles has certain common features, typical of
the~general h elles^lelfres style, which m ake up the foundation of the
style, by which the p articu lar style is m ade recognizable and can there
fore be singled out. Each of them also enjoys some in d iv id u a lity. This
is revealed in definite features typical only of one or another substyle.
This correlation of the general and the p articu lar in each v aria n t of the
belles-lettres style had m anifested itself differently at different stages
in its historical developm ent.
The common features of the substvjes_m ay be sum m ed up as follows.
F irst of all~comes the common function which m ay broadly be cajjed
aesthetico-cognitiv e. This is~a~double function which aim s at the cog process, which secures th eig rad u al unfolding of the idea to the
reader and at th e same tim e calls io rth a feeling of pleasure, a pleasure
which is derived from the form in which- the content is w rought. The
psychological elem ent, pleasure, is not irrelevant when evalu atin g the
effect of the com m unication.1 This pleasure is caused not only by adm i
ra tio n of the selected language m eans and their peculiar arrangem ent but
also (and this is perhaps the m ain cause) by the fact th a t the reader is led
1 Cf. M. R iffaterres statem ent that style is a language subject which deals w ith
the effect of the message, in The Sivlistic Function. IX International Congress of Lin
guists, 1964, pp. 310317.

250

to form his own conclusions as to the purp o it of the author. N othing

gives more pleasure and satisfaction than realizing th at one has the a b il
ity to penetrate into the hidden tissue of events, phenom ena and hum an
ac tiv ity , and to perceive the relation between various seemingly uncon
nected facts brought together by the creative m ind of the w riter.
Since the belles-lettres style has a cognitive function as well as an
aesthetic one, it follows th a t it has som ething in common w ith scientific
style, which w ill be discussed in detail later, but uhich is here m entioned
for the sake of com parison. The purpose of science as a branch of hum an
ac tiv ity is to disclose by research the inner substance of things and phe
nom ena of objective reality and find out the laws regulating them , thus
enabling m an to predict, control and direct their further developm ent in
order to im prove the m aterial and social life of m ankind. The style of
scientific prose is therefore m ainly characterized by an arrangem ent of
language m eans which w ill bring proofs to clinch a theory. Therefore we
say th a t the m ain function of scientific prose is proof. The selection of
language m eans m ust therefore m eet th is principal requirem ent.
The purpose of the belles-lettres style is not to prove but only to
suggest a possible in terp retatio n of the phenom ena of life by forcing
the reader to see the view point of the writer. This is the cognitive functio n of the belles-lettres""style"
From all th is it follows, therefore, th at the belles-lettres style m ust
select a system of language m eans which w ill secure the effect sought.
In showing the difference in the m anner of thin k in g of the man-ofletters and the man-of-science, N. A. Dobrolubov writes:
The m an-of-letters... thinks concretely, never losing sight of
p artic u la r phenom ena and images; the other (the man-of-science)
strives to generalize, to merge all particulars in one general for
m u la. 1
,

'

"

The belles-lettres style rests on certain indispensable linguistic fea

tures which are:
.
ilh Genuine, not trite, im agery, achieved by purely linguistic devices.
_ 2 . The use of words in contextual and very often in more 4han one
dictionary m eaning, or at least greatly influenced by the lexical environ
m ent.
"*'?
.
3. A vocabulary which w ill reflect to a greater or lesser degree the
au th o rs personal evaluation of things or phenom ena.
4. A peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax, a kind
of lexical and syntactical idiosyncrasy.
5. The introduction of the typjcal features of colloquial language
to a full "degree (in plays) or a" lesser one (in em otive prose) or a slight
degree, if any (in poems).
The belles-lettres style is individual in essence. This is one of its
m ost distinctive properties, in d iv id u a lity in selecting language means
(including sty listic devices), extrem ejy apparent in poetic style, becomes
gradually less in, let us say, publicistic style, is hardly noticeable in the
1 H . . .. . 5, . 28.3 281.

251

style of scientific prose and is entirely lacking in newspapers and in offi

cial style. The relation between the general and the particu lar assumes
different forms in different styles and in th eir varian ts. This relation is
differently m aterialized even w ith in one and the same style. This is due
to the strong im print of personality on any work of poetic style. There
m ay be a greater or lesser volum e of im agery (but not an absence of
imagery); a greater or lesser num ber of words w ith contextual m eaning
(but not all words w ithout contextual m eaning); a greater or lesser
num ber of colloquial elem ents (but not a com plete absence of colloquial
elem ents).
1. LANGUAGE OF POETRY
L
'

The first substyle we shall consider is u e r s e. Its first differentiating

property is its orderly form, which is baled m ainly on the rhythm ic and
phonetic arrangem ent of the utterances. The rhythm ic aspect calls forth
syntactical and sem antic peculiarities which also fall into a more or less
stric t orderly arrangem ent. Both' th syntactical and sem antic aspects
of the poetic substyle m ay be defined as com pact, for they are held in
check by rh y th m ic p attern s. B oth syntax and sem antics com ply w ith
the restrictions im posed by the rhythm ic p attern , and the result is brev
ity of expression, epigram-l.ike utterances, and fresh, unexpected im a
gery. S yn tactically th is brevity is shown in ellip tical and fragm entary
sentences, in detached constructions, in inversion, asyndeton and other
sy n tactical peculiarities.'
R hythm and rhym e are im m ediately distinguishable, properties., of
the poetic' subsfyle provided they arp w rought into com positional p a t
terns. They can be called the external d ifferentiating features of the
substyle, typical only of this one variety of the belles-lettres style. The
various com positional forms of rhym e and rh y th m are generally studied
under the term s v e r s i f i c a t i o n or p r o s o d y .
Let us exam ine the external properties or features of the poetic sub
sty le in detail.
a) Compositional Patterns of Rhythmical Arrangement
Metre and Line

It is custom ary to begin the exposition of the theory of E nglish ver

sification w ith the statem ent th at ...th e re is no established principle of
English versification. But this statem ent m ay apply to alm ost any branch
of linguistic science. Science in general can live and develop only pro
vided th a t there are constant disputes on the m ost crucial issues of the
given science.
English versification is no exception. We have already discussed
some of the m ost general points of rhythm . This was a necessary introduc
tion to English versification, inasm uch as English verse is m ostly based
on rhythm ical arrangem ent and rhym e. Both* rhythm and rhym e are
objective qualities of language and exist outside verse.1 B ut in verse
1 This is the reason th at both rhythm and th y m e have been treated in P a rt II I o u t
side the chapter on versification.

both have assum ed their com positional p attern s and, perhaps, due to
this, they are com m only associated w ith verse. The m ost observable and
w idely recognized com positional pattern s of rhythm m aking up I a s s ic a l v e r s e are based on:
1) a lterh atio n of stressed and unstressed ^syllables,1
2) e q u ilin earity , th at is, an eq ual num ber of sy llables in the lines,
5) a natu ral pause at the end of The line, the line being si more or less
com prete sem antic unit,
.4 ) id en tity of stanza pattern,
5) established p attern s of rhym ing,
t-i '
Less observable, although very apparent in m odern versification,
are all kinds of deviations from these rules, some of them going so far
th a t classical poetry ceases to be strictly classical and becomes w hat is
called f r e e v e r s e , which in extrem e cases borders on prose.
English verse, like all verse, em anated_irom _song. Verse assumes
an independent existence only when it tears itself away from song. Then
only does it acquire the statu s of a* genuine poetic system , and rhythm ,
being the su b stitu te for m usic, assumes a new significance. The u n it of
measure~of poetic rh y thm in English versification is not so much of a
q u a n tita tiv e as of a q u alitativ e character. The unit of m easure in m usical
rhythm is the tim e allo tted to its reproduction, whereas the u n it of m eas
ure in English verse rhythm is the q u ality of the a lte rn a tin g elem ent
(stressed or unstressed). Therefore English versification, like R ussian,
is called q u alitativ e, in con trad istin ctio n to the old Greek verse which,
being sung, was essentially q u an titativ e. In classic English verse, q u a n ti
ty is taken into consideration only when it is a m atter of the num ber of
feet in a line. Hence classic E nglish verse is called s i / 1 1 a b - t o_n i c._
Two param eters are taken into account in defining the measure: the num
ber of syllables (syllabo) and the distrib u tio n of stresses {tonic). The
nature of the English language w ith its specific phonetic laws, however,
is incom patible w ith the dem and for stric t regularity in the altern atio n
of sim ilar u n its, and hence there are a num ber of accepted deviations from
established m etrical schem s which we shall discuss in detail after po nting o u t the m ost recflgnifabTe E n g I i s h e i r i c a I p a J t e r n s
Thpre are five of. them:
i
/ i m h t r e , in which the unstressed syllable is followed
by a .stressed n n e . It is graphically represented thus-*(w ')
,2 . (f E h ftF ic m e t r e, where the order is_ \4117. a stressed
1
syllable is followed by one unstressed ('w ).
D <rc t I i m e t r eone stressed syllable is JoJlowed by two
unstressed ( -ww).
4, A m p h i b r a c h i m e t r eone stressed syllable is framed
iW
' by two "unstressed
,

0*

1 Many linguists hold th at verse rhythm is based on

stroriger1***^
and weaker stresses. They m aintain th at four degrees of stresses are easily recognizable.
B ut for the sake of abstraction an indispensable process in scientific investigation
the opposition of stressed unstressed syllables is the only authentic w ay of presenting
th e problem of verse rhythm .

253

\> * S

'

\ ' . ^ n a p a e s t i t two unstressed syllables are followed

b ju a n e M r^secH fwvj
ryjp
These a tffm g e m lm so f q u alitativ ely different syllables are the un its
the m etre, the re p etitio n o f w hieh m akes v e rse rO n e unit i: called
J ' f t. '1he n u ijb e r of leet in a line varies, but it has its fim it; it r a r e t y f i |
^ ^ ^ e x c e e d s -e T g h t:^ --------------------------------------------------------------------
^ ^be line consists of only one foot it is called a m o n o m e t e r;
a line consisting of two feet is a d i m e t e ; three t r i m e t e r, four
t e t r a m e t e r ; five p e n t a m e t e r\ six h e x a m e t e r, seven
s e p t a m e t e r :; eight e t a m e t e r . In defining the m easure, th a t
is the kind of ideal m etrical scheme of a verse, it is necessary to point out
both the type of m etre and the length of the line. Thus, a line th a t con
sists of four iam bic feet is called i a m b i t e t r a m e t e r , correspond
ingly a line consisting of eight trochaic feet w ill be called t r o c h a i c
o c t a m e t e r , and so on.
English verse is predom inantly iam bic. This is som etim es explained
by th e iam bic tendency of the English language in general. Most of the
English words have a trochaic tendency, th a t is the stress falls on the
first syllable of tw o-syllabic words. B ut in actual speech these words
are preceded by non-stressed articles, prepositions, conjunctions or by
unstressed syllables of preceding words thus im parting an iam bic char
acter to English speech. As a result iam bic m etre is m ore common in E ng
lish verse th an any other m etre.
Here are a few exam ples illu stratin g various m etrical arrangem ents
of English verse.
1. Iam bic pentam eter
Oh
w

let me
i

|u

true in love bu t tru ly w rite

JL |W

2. Trochaic tetram eter

W ould you ask me whence these stories
w[ 1 . |
I
u | 1 .
3. D actylic dim eter
Cannon
'

\J
Cannon
\

to right of
1v r w
to left of
w II \ w
U

them
w

them
w

4. A m phibrachic tetram eter

O, where are you going to all you Big Steam ers
\J

w j

~ u

w | w

5. A napaestic tetram eter

Do you ask w hat the birds say? The sparrow, the dove
If we m ake a careful study of alm ost any poem, we w ill find w hat
aie called irregularities or m odifications of its norm al m etrical p at
tern. These m odifications generally have some special significance,
254

The spondee as a rhythm ic m odification, unlike the p yrrhic, is alw ays

used to give added em phasis. This m ay be explained by the fact th a t
two successive syllables both under heavy stress produce a kind of clash,
as a result of which the juncture between the syllables becomes wider,
th u s m aking each of them conspicuous. A pyrrhic sm ooths and quickens
the pace of the rh y thm ; a spondee slows it down and m akes it jerky.
Pyrrhics m ay appear in alm ost any foot in a line, though they are
rarely found in the last foot. This is n atu ral as the last foot generally has
a rhym ing word and rhym ing words are alw ays stressed. Spondees gen
erally appear in th e first or the last foot.
These three m odifications of the rhythm are the result of the clash be
tween the requirem ents of the m etrical scheme and the n atu ra l tendency
of the language m aterial to conform to its own phonetic laws. The m ore
verse seeks to reflect the lively norm s of colloquial English, the more
frequently are m odifications such as those desribed to be found.
The fourth m odification has to do w ith the num ber of syllables in the
line. There may be either a syllable m issing or there m ay be an extra
syllable. Thus, th e last syllable of a trochaic octam eter is often m issing,
as in th is line from P oes The R aven:
T hrilled m e, filled me w ith fantastic terrors never felt before

'-'I '-'I

yj

V|yj | - w|
-'-'I w|

T his is called a h y p o m e t r i c l i n e . O ther lines in the poem

have the full sixteen syllables.
In iam bic m etre there m ay be an extra syllable a t the end of the line.
In th e line from the Shakespeare sonnet:
Then in these thoughts m yself alm ost despising
there are eleven syllables, whereas there should have been ten, the line
being iam bic pentam eter, as are all the lines of a sonnet. A line w ith an
ex tra syllable is called h y p e r m e t r i c .
Such departures from the established m easure also break to some
extent the rhythm ical structure of the verse, and are therefore to be con
sidered m odifications of the rhythm .
The fifth departure from the norm s of classic verse is e n j a m fe
rn e n t, or th e r u n - o n line. This term is used to denote the transfer of
a p art of a syntagm from one line to the following one, as in the following
lines from B yrons C hilde H aro ld s P ilgrim age:
1. F air is proud Seville; let her country boast
2. Her strength, her w'ealth, her site of ancient days;
6. W hile boyish blood is m antling, who can 'scape
7. The fascination of the m agic gaze?
It w ill be observed th a t here again is a violation of the requirem ents
of the classical verse according to which the line m ust be a more or less
com plete u n it in itself. H ere we have the overflowing of the sense to the
nex t line due to the break of the syntagm in the first and sixth lines
256

the close predicate-object groups. The lines seem to be torn into two
halves, the second half flowing stru ctu rally into the first half of the next
line. The first impression is th at th is is some kind of prose, and not verse,
but th is im pression is im m ediately contradicted by the feeling th at there
is a definite m etrical scheme and p attern of rhym ing.
The rh y th m ic p attern of the verse leads us to a n ticip ate a certain
sem antic structure; but when the device of enjam bm ent is used, what
we an ticip ate is brought into conflict w ith w hat we actu ally find, that
is, w hat is actu ally m aterialized.
T his is still m ore acutely felt in the case of s t a n z a e n j a m b
m e n t . Here the sense of a larger rhythm ic u n it, the stanza, w hich is
generally self-contained and com plete, is m ade to flow over to the next
stanza.
Here is an exam ple from B yrons Childe H arold, C anto 1, stanza
LI and LI I.
LI
u
8. The h o lsterd steed beneath the shed of thatch,
9. The ball-piled pyram id, the ever-blazing match,
LII
1. Portend the deeds to come: but he whose nod
2. Has tum bled feebler despots from their sway.

The essence of enjam bm ent is the violation of the concordance between

the rh y th m ical and the syntactical unity in a line of verse. At the end of
each rhythm ical line in classical verse there m ust be a pause of an appre
ciable size between the lines which ensures the relative independence of
each. The ju n ctu re between the lines is wide. E njam bm ent throws a
part of the syntagm over to the second line, thus causing the pause to
grow sm aller and the ju ncture closer. This leads to a break in the rhythm ico-syntactical u n ity of the lines; they lose their relative independence.
Stanza enjam bm ent is the same in nature, but it affects larger rhythm ico-syntactical u n its, the stanzas. Here we seldom witness the break of
a syntagm , but the final part of the utterance is throw n over to the next
stanza, thus u n itin g the two stanzas, breaking the self-sufficiency of
each and causing the ju n ctu re between the stanzas to become closer.
It is im portant to rem ind the reader th at m odifications in English
m etre, no m atter how frequent, rem ain m odifications, for the given
m etrical scheme is not affected to any appreciable extent. As a m atter
of fact these irregularities may be said to have become regular. They
add much v arie ty and charm to the verse. Indeed, if the m etre is perfect
ly regular w ith o u t any of the five m odifications described above, the
verse may sound mechanical and lifeless, artificial and monotonous.
9

2376

257

^ T h e StanzaJ
V

-'^7

*& -

.iP ,

We have defined rhythm as more or less regular altern atio n s of sim i

lar units. Of the units of verse rhythm the following have been named:
the syllab le^ the foot, the line and finally the stanza.
4
T h e s t a n z a is the largest unit in verse It is composed of a
ehum ber of lines having a definite measure and rhym ing system which
is repeated throughout the poem.
The stanza is generally built up on definite principles w ith regard ^
to~The num ber of lines, the character of the m etre and the rhym ing pat- G

e rn "
\
T here are m any widely recognized starrza p atterns in Engl sh poetry,
but
shall name only^the fcjllmv n t ' ^
\ .a
f
l) T h e h e i p I Y t a stanza th at consists oftwo iam bic
^ pentam eters w ith the rhym ing pattern aa.
' wr
Specialists in versification divide the history of the development
^
of this stanza into two periods: the first is the period of C haucers C an
terbury Tales and the second the period of Marlowe, C hapm an and other
E lizabethan poets. The first period is characterized by the m arked flexi
b ility of th vers'e, the relative freedom of its rhythm ic arrangem ent in
which there are all kinds of m odifications. The second period is character
ized by rigid dem ands for the p u rity of its rhythm ical structure. The
heroic couplet, beginning w ith the 16th century and particularly in the
poetry of Spencer, was enchained by strict rules of versification, and lost
its flex ib ility and freedom of arrangem ent.
The heroic couplet was later m ostly used in elevated forms of poetry,
in epics and odes. A lexander Pope used the heroic couplet in his The
Rape of the Lock w ith a satirical purpose, th a t of parodying the epic.
Here are two couplets from th is poem:
Then flashed the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rent the affrighted skies.
Not louder shrieks to p itying heaven are cast,
W hen husbands or when lapdogs breathe their last;

2)
The next model of stanza which once enjoyed popularity wa
t h e S p e n c e r i a n s t a n z a , nam ed after Edm und Spencer, the
16th century poet who first used this type of stanza in his Faerie Queene.
i t consists of nine lines, th e.first eight of which are iam bic pentam eters^
and the n inth is one foot longer, th at is, an iam bic hexam eter. The rh y m -)
ing scheme is ababbcbcc. B yrons C hilde Harolcki i s w ritten in thity
stanza:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Awake, ye sons of Spain! Awake! Xflvancel ('**

Lo! C hivalry, your ancient goddess, cries, (b )
V*
B ut w ields not, as of old, her th irsty lance, (a)
Nor shakes her crimson plum age in the skies: (b)
Now on the smoke of blazing bolts she flies, (b)
And speaks in thunder through yon engines roar: (c)
In every peal she callsAwakel Arisel (b)
258

8. Say, is her voice m ore feeble than of yore, (c)

^ h e n her w ar-sone y^s^he^rd on A ndalusias shore?

3) The stanza named o t t a v a r i m a has also been popular in

English poetry, ft is composed of eig h t iam bic pentam eters, the rhym
ing scheme being abababcc. This type of stanza was borrowed from Ita l
ian poetry and was w idely used by P hilip Sidney and other poets of
the 16th century. Then it fell into disuse but was revived at the end of
th e 18th century. Byron used it in his poem Beppo and in D on J u a n .
Here it is:
1. W ith all its sinful doings, I m ust say, (a)
2. T h at Ita ly s a pleasant place to me, (b)
3. Who love to see the Sun shine every day, (a)
4. And vines (not n a ild to walls) from tree to tree (b)
5. F estoond much like the back scene of a play (a ) .
6. Or m elodram e, which people flock to see,(b)
7. When the first act is ended by a dance (c)
8. In vineyards copied from the South of F rance. (c)
4) A looser form of stanza is the b a l l a d s t a n z a . This is generally
an altern atio n of iam bic tetram eters w ith iam bic dim eters (or trim eters),
and the rhym ing scheme is abcb\ th at is, the tetram eters are not rhym ed
the trim eters are. T rue, there are v aria n ts of the ballad stanza, p articu
larly in the length of the stanza.
The ballad, which is a very old, perhaps the oldest form of English
verse, is a short story in rhym e, som etim es w ith dialogue and direct
speech. In the poem of Beowulf there are constant suggestions th a t the
poem was m ade up from a collection of much earlier ballads. Modern bal
lads in form are im itations of the old English ballad. H ere is a sam ple
of th e ballad stanza:
They took a plough and ploughd him down (a)
P u t clods upon his head; (b)
And they had sworn a solemn o ath (c)
Jo h n Barleycorn was dead. (b) (R obert Burns)
In some of the v arian ts of the ballad stanza the rhym ing scheme is
abab, th a t is the stanza becomes a typical quatrain.
5) O ne of the m ost popular stanzas, which bears the nam e of stanza
only conventionally, is the s o n n e t . This is not a part of a larger unit,
it is a com plete independent work of a definite literary genre. However,
by trad itio n and also due to its strict stru ctu ral design this ih e ra ry genre
is called a stanza.
_ The English sonnet is composed of fourteen_iam bic pentam eters w ith
the following rhym ing scheme: ababcdcdefefgg, th at is, three quatrains
w ith cross rhym es and a couplet at the end. The English sonnet was
borrowed from Ita lia n poetry, but on English soil it underw ent structural
and som etim es certain sem antic changes.
The Italian sonnet was composed of two q u atrains w ith a fram ing
rhym e abba. These two q u atra in s formed the o c t a v e . It was followed
by a s e s t e t t e , i.e. six lines divided into two tercets, i.e. three line
9*

u n its w ith cde rhym ing in each, or varian ts, nam ely, cdcdcd or cdedce
and others.
The sem antic aspect of the Italian sonnet was also strictly regular
ized. The first q u atrain of the octave was to lay the m ain idea before the
reader; the second q u atrain was to expand the idea of the first quatrain
by giving details or illustrations or proofs. So the octave had not only a
structural but also a sem antic pattern: the eight lines were to express
one idea, a thesis.
The same applies to the sestette. The first three lines were to give an
idea opposite to the one expressed in the octave, a kind of antithesis,
and the last three lines to be a synthesis of the ideas expressed in the oc
tave and the first tercet. This synthesis was often expressed in the last two
lines of the sonnet and these two lines therefore were called epigram m atic
lines.
The E nglish, often called the S h a k e s p e a r e a ti_ s s in n e t has
retain ed m any of the features of its Italian parent. The division into
octave and sestette is observed in m any sonnets, although the sestette is
not alw ays divided into two tercets. The rhym ing scheme is sim plified
and is now expressed by the form ula ababcdcdefefgg given above.
The most clearly observable characteristic feature of the sonnet on the
content plane is the epigram -like last line (or last two lines).
Sonnets were very popular in England during the sixteenth century.
W yatt, Surrey, Sidney and m any other English poets of this period in
dulged in w ritin g sonnets, and it is significant th at during this period an
enorm ous num ber were w ritten. W yatt adhered strictly the Italian
model. Surrey m odified it and it was this m odification th at Shake
speare used.
The Shakespearean sonnets, which are known all over the world,
are a m asterpiece of sonnet com position. All 154 sonnets express the feel
ings of the poet towards his beloved, his friend and his patron. Even
those sonnets, the m ain idea of which is by no m eans lim ited to the lyrical
laying out of the feelings of the poet (as Sonnets Nos. 66 21 and others),
still pay trib u te to the conventional form of the sonnet by m entioning
the object of the p o ets feelings.1
The types of English stanzas enum erated in no way exhaust the variety
of this m acro-unit in the rhythm ical arrangem ent of the utterance. The
num ber of types of stanzas is practically unlirnited. We have chosen only
those which have won wide recognition and are taken up by m any poets
as a convenient m ould into which new content m ay be poured. But there
are many interesting m odels which still rem ain unique and therefore
cannot yet be system atized.
An interesting survey of stanza m odels in the English poetry of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has been m ade by Y. Vorobyov
in his thesis on Some Stanza P eculiarities in 18th and 19th Century
English Verse. 2
1 See detailed analysis o f four Shakespearean sonnets in I. R. G alperin's An Es
say in S ty listic Analysis". ., 1968.
2 See . X V III
XIX . ., , 1968.
260

Free

V erse a n d

A c c e n te d

Verse

Y'erse rem ains classical if it retains its m etrical scheme.

There are, however, types of verse which are not classical. The one
most popular is w hat is called vers libre which is the French term for
f r e e v e r s e . Free verse departs considerably from the strict require
m ents of classical verse, but j t s departures are legalized. Free verse is
recognized by lack of strictness in its rh y th m ic a l design. The term free
verse is usedT ather loosely by different w riters; so much so th at w hat is
known as a c c e n t e d or s t r e s s e d v e r s e is also som etim es in
cluded.
Here we shall use the term free verse to refer only to those varieties
of verse which are characterized b y .T P a com bination of various m etrical
feet in the line; 2) absence of equilinearity and 3) stanzas of varying
length. R hym e, however, is generally re tain ed . Hence the term free
verse is lim ited in this work to verse in which there is a more or less
regular com bination of different m etrical feet, different lengths of line
and different lengths of stanza
A good illu stratio n of free verse in our sense of the term is S helleys
poem The C loud.
1 bring fresh showers for the thirstin g flowers,
From the seas and the stream s;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews th at waken
The sweet buds every one,
W hen rocked to rest on their m others breast,
As she dances about the sun.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And w hiten the green plains under.
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as 1 pass in thunder.
Here the odd lines are tetram eters in which there are com binations
of iam bic and anapaestic m etres. The even lines are either dim eters or
trim eters of iam bic and anapaestic m etre. So the m etre is not homoge
neous w ith in the lines; the lines are of different lengths and the stanzas
have different num bers of lines: the first one has twelve lines, the second
eighteen, the th ird fourteen. The rem aining stanzas also vary in length.
The num ber of syllables in each line also varies. The first line has nine
syllables, the second six, the th ird nine, th e fourthfive, the f i f t h eleven, the six th six, the seventhnine, the eig h th seven, the n i n t h nine, the ten th eight, the eleventh ten, the tw elftheight.
Yet in th is irregularity there is a certain regularity. First of all there
is a regular a lte rn a tio n of long and short lines; there is a definite com
bin atio n of only two feet: iam bic and anapaestic; there is a definite rhym
ing scheme: the long lines have internal rhym e, the short ones rhyme
w ith each other. These regularities are m aintained throughout the poem.
And th a t is why we say th at in spite of an appreciable departure from
classical principles it rem ains to a large extent sy llabo-tonie verse. The
261

regularities we have pointed out prevent us from nam ing the instances of
departure from the classic model m odifications since they have a defi
n ite structural pattern. Classic m odifications of the rhythm are acci
dental, not regular.
Free verse is not, of course, confined to the p attern just described.
T here may not be any two poems w ritten in free verse which w ill have
the sam e stru ctu ral pattern . This underlying freedom makes verse less
rigid and more colloquial-like.
The departure from m etrical rules is som etim es considered a sign
of progressiveness in verse, which is doubtful.
Classical English verse, free verse and the accented verse which we are
about to discuss, all enjoy equal rights from the aesthetic point of view
and none of these types of verse has any ascendancy over the others.
jSiC e n t e d v e r s e is a type of verse in which only the num
ber of stresses Tn_fhe J in e is taken into consideration. The num ber of
s;1tables is not a co n stituent; it is irrelevant and therefore disregarded.
Accented verse is not syllabo-fonic but only tonic. In its extrem e form
the lines have no p attern of regular m etrical feet nor fixed length, there is
no notion of stanza, and there are no rhym es. Like free verse, accented
verse has very m any v arian ts, some approaching free verse and some de
p artin g so far from any recognized rhythm ical p attern th at we can hardly
observe the essential features of this mode of com m unication. For the
sake of illu stratio n we shall quote two poems representing the two ex
trem es of accented verse.
1. W ith fingers weary and worn;
W ith eyelids heavy and red,
A wom an sat in unwomanly rags,
P lying her needle and th read ,
S titchl S titchl S titchl
In poverty, hunger and dirt;
And still w ith a voice of dolorous pitch
She sang the Song of the S h irt.
W orkl Work! World
W hile the cock is crowing aloofl
And workworkwork
Till the stars shine through the roofl
I t s 01 to be a slave
Along w ith the barbarous Turk,
Where wom an has never a soul to save,
If th is is C hristian workl
W orkworkwork 1
Till the brain begins to swiml
W orkworkwork
T ill the eyes are heavy and diml
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Band, and gusset, and seam ,
Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in a dream ." (Thomas Hood)
262

Even a superfluous analysis of the rhythm ical structure of this poem

clearly shows th at the rhythm is m ostly founded on stress. In the first
line there are seven syllables and three stresses; the second has the same;
but the th ird has ten syllables and four stresses; the fourthseven and
three; the fifth three and three; and so on. B ut still we can find a regu
larity in the poem; for m ost of the lines have three stresses. At m ore or
less regular intervals there appear longer lines w ith four stresses. Since
the unstressed syllables are not taken into consideration, and therefore
there are no secondary or tertiary stresses (as in classic verse), the stresses
in accented verse are very heavy. The stanzas in this poem are all built
on the same p attern : eight lines, each containing two four-stressed lines.
The lines are rhym ed altern ately . All this m akes this verse half accent
ed, half free. In o ther words, this is borderline verse, the bias being in
the direction of accented verse. This is not the case w ith the following
poem by W alt W hitm an: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.
2. Now I am curious w hat can ever be m ore stately and ad m ira
ble to me than m y m ast-hem m d M anhattan,
My river and sunset, and m y scallop-edgd waves of flood-tide,
The sea-gulls oscillating their bodies, the hay-boat in the
tw ilight, and the belated lighter;
C urious w hat Gods can exceed these th at clasp me by the hand,
and w ith voices I love call me prom ptly and loudly by my
highest nam e as I approach;
This type of poetry can hardly be called verse from a purely structural
point of view; it is th at kind of tonic verse which, by neglecting alm ost
all the laws of verse building, has gradually run into prose. But somehow
there is still som ething left of the structural aspect of verse, and th is is
the singling-out of each m eaningful word m aking it conspicuous and self
determ inative by the pauses and by the character of the junctures which
precede and follow each of these words. Besides this, w hat m akes this
text poetry is also the selection of words, the peculiar syntactical patterns,
and the imagery.
Verse cannot do away w ith its formal aspects and rem ain verse. T here
fore the extrem e type of accented verse just given ceases to be verseJ
as such. I t has become w hat is som etim es called p o e t i c p r o s e .
Accented verse is nothing but an orderly singling-out of certain words
and svntagm s in the utterance by m eans of intonation. This singlingout becomes a constituent of this type of verse, provided th at the distance
between each of the com ponent p arts presents a more or less constant unit.
V iolation of th is principle would lead to the com plete destruction of the
\erse as such.
Accented v erseJto n ic verse) has a Jo n g Ja lk lo re trad itio n . Old English
verse- was tonic but hot syllabo-tonic. The latter appeared in English
poetry as a borrowing from Greek and L atin poetry, where the a ltern a
tion was not between stressed and unstressed but between long and short
syllables. In the process of being adapted to the peculiarities of the pho
netic and m orphological system of the English language, syllabo-tonic
'erse has undergone considerable changes, and accented veise may there263

fore conventionally be regarded as a stage in the transform ational pro

cess of ad ap tin g the syllabo-tonic system to the organic norm s of m odern
colloquial English. This is justified by the fact th at present-day accented
verse is not a mere revival of the Old English poetical system but a newly
arranged form and type of English verse. N aturally, however, folklore
trad itio n s have influenced m odern accented verse in a num ber of \yays.
b) Lexical and S yntactical Features of Verse

V ' 4

-<

The phonetic features of the language of poetry constitute what we

have called its e x t e r h a 7 'a s p e t. These features im m ediately
strike the ear and the eye and therefore are easily discernible; but the
characteristics of this substyle are by no m eans confined to these external
features. Lexical and syntactical peculiarities, together w ith those just
analysed, will present the substyle as a sty listic entity.
A n o n g the lexical peculiarities of verse the first to be m entioned is
i m a s e r u , which being the generic teature o) th e belles-lettres sTyTe\assu m es in poetry a compressed form: LL is rich in associative power,
frequent in occurrence and varied in m ethods and devices of m ateria!!zation.
An im age, w rites A. E. D erbyshire, is a use of language which
relates or su b stitutes a given word or expression to or for an analogue in
some gram m atical way, and which in so doing endows th at w'ord or expres
sion w ith different lexical inform ation from that which it has in its set.
An image, in this sense, is merely a linguistic device for providing con
textual inform ation. 1
In spite of its being rather com plicated, there is a grain of truth in
this definition of an image, for an image does give additional (contextual)
inform ation. This inform ation is based on associations aroused by a pecul
iar use of a w'ord or expression. An interesting insight into the essence of
imagery is given by Z Paperny: Poetical im age, he w rites, is not a
frozen picture, but m ovem ent, not a static reproduction but the develop
ing idea of an a rtis t. 2 He calls the image a double unit," thus pointing
to the tw'ofold ap plication of the word w ord-com bination or even whole
sentence.
We here define imagery as a use^ot language m edia which will create
a sensory perception of an. abstract notion, by arousing certain associa
tions (som etim es very remote) between the general and the particular,
the abstract and the concrete, the conventional and the factual.
It is hardly possible to under-estim ate the significance of imagery in
the belles-lettres style of language. Im agery may be regarded as the
antipode to precision, although some styticists hold the view that im
agery has its own kind of precision. The essence of an image, w rites
L. V. Shcherba, ...is in the m ultifai lousness oi the associations it pro
vokes.
1 Derbyshire, A . E. A Gramm ar of Style. K ent. 1971, p. 165.
2 3 . \ ., 1961, . 12.
J1. . . ., 1957, . 100-

264

The image, as a purely linguistic notion, is som ething that must be

decodecTby the reader. So are the subtle inner relations between (he parts
of the utterance and between the utterances themselves. These relations
are not so easily discernible as they are in logically arranged utterances
Instances of det'ached construction, asyndeton, etc. m ust also be inter
preted.
An image can be decoded through a fine analysis of the m eanings
of the given word or word-combi nation. In decoding a given image, the
d ictio n ary m eanings, the contextual meanings, the em otional colouring
and, last but not least, the associations which are awakened by the image
should all be called into play. The easier the images are decoded, the more
in tellig ib le the poetic utterance becomes to the reader. If the image is
d ifficult to decode, then it follows th at either the idea is not quite clear
to the poet him self or the acquired experience of the reader is not suffi
c ie n t to grasp the vague'or remote associations hidden in the given image
Im ages from a linguistic point of view' are m ostly built on m etaphor,
m etonym y and sim ile. These are direct sem antic ways of coining iin
ages. Images m a y ~ b e divided into three categories: two concrete (visual
auraljj and one abstract (relational).
V i s u a l i m a g e s are_the easiest of perception, inasmuch as they
are readily caught by w hat is called fhem ental eye. In other"w ords,
visual images are shaped through concrete pictures of objects, the im pres
sion of which is present in our m ind. Thus in:
... and then my state,
L ike to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen e a rth ... (Shakespeare)
the sim ile has called up a visual image, th at of a lark rising.
O nom atopoeia will build an a u r a l i m a g e In our m ind, th at is,
it will make us hear the actual sounds of nature or things (see, for example:
How the W ater Comes Dpvyn at Ladore).
relational i
e is one that shows the relation between
objects through a nother k ln a o f re latio n , and the tvyo kindiuaf relation
will secure~a more ex ac t.re aliz atio n of th e J n n e r connections between
things or phenomena.
Thus in:
Men of England, Heirs of Glory,
Heroes of unw ritten story.
N urslings of one mighty m other,
Hopes of her, and one another. (Shelley)
such notions as heirs of glory, heroes of u nw ritten story, nurs
lings of . . . m o th er, hopes of h e r... all create relational images, inas
much as they aim at showing the relations between the constituents of
the m etaphors but not the actual (visual) images of, in this case, h e ir
hero, n u rsling, hope.
A strik in g instance of building up an image by means other than
m etaphor, m etonym y and sim ile is to be seen in the following passage
of em otive prose from The Man of P roperty.1' Galsworthy has created
265

in th is p articu lar case an atm osphere of extrem e tension at a dinner

tab le. This is only part of the passage:
D inner began i n silence', the women facing one another, and
the men.
In silence the soup was finished excellent, if a little thick;
and fish was brought. In silence it was handed.
Bosinney ventured: I t s the first spring day.
Irene echoed softly: Yes the first spring day.
Spring! said Ju ne: There isnt a breath of a irl No one replied.
The fish was taken aw ay, a fine fresh sole from Dover. And Bilson
brought cham pagne, a bottle sw athed around the neck w ith
white.
Soames said: Y oull find it dry.
C utlets were handed, each pink-frilled about the legs. They
were refused by Ju n e, and silence fe ll"
The first thing th a t strikes the close observer is the insistent rep
etitio n of words, constructions, phrases. The word silence is repeated
four times in a short stretch of text. The idea of silence is conveyed by
m eans of synonym ous expressions: There was a lengthy pause, no
one rep lied (answ ered), Long silence followed! Then the passive
constructions (fish was brought, it was handed, the fish was taken
aw ay , cutlets were handed, They were refused, they were borne aw ay,
chicken was rem oved, sugar was handed her, the charlotte was re
m oved, olives... caviare were placed, the olives were rem oved, a
silver tray was b ro ught, and so on) together w ith parallel construction
and asyndeton depict the slow progress of the dinner, thus revealing the
strained atm osphere of which all those present were aware.
This exam ple illu strates the m eans by which an image can be created
by syntactical m edia and repetition. A ctually we do not find any trans
ferred m eanings in the words used here, i.e. all the words are used in their
literal m eanings. And yet so strong is the power of syntactical arrange
m ent and re p etitio n th at the reader cannot fail to experience him self the
tension surrounding the dinner table.
In this connection it is w orth m entioning one of the ways of building
up images which A rchibald A. H ill, an A m erican scholar of linguistics,
has called a n i c o n. The icon is a direct representation, not necessarily
a picture, of a thing or an event.
1
V*
*
Icons, he w rites, have not generally been included am ong the enu
m erations of figures of speech, and in discussions of im agery, have usually
been called sim ply descriptions. 1
The excerpt from The M an of P ro p erty may serve as a good exam ple
of a n icon. This device m ight ju stly be included in the system of sty listic
devices and be given its due as one of the most frequent ways of imagebuilding. However, an icon m ust always rest on some specific, concretizing
use of words, and th eir forms (e.g. tenses of verbs), and/or the arrange
m ent of sentences, which secure the desired image. These language units
1 H ill, Archibald A . Analogues, icons and images in relation to sem antic content
of discourse. Style , vol. 2, 1968, . 3, p. 212.

266

m ay be likened to the colours in a painting which only in an adequate

arrangem ent will reproduce the image. An image," w rites A. E. D erby
shire, evidently having in m ind the process of iconizing, is merely a way
of using words in certain syntagm atic relationships. 1
It was necessary to dwell so lengthily on the problem of icons because,
to hazard a guess, icons seem to be a powerful means of creating images
in the belles-lettres style. The sim plicity and ease in decoding the icon
outw eighs the effect of other im age-building m edia, the latter being more
com plicated because of their m ulti-dim ensional nature. These properties
of icons make it advisable to single the device out as one am ong other
means of im age-building. Icons m ay ju stly be prom oted to canons in the
belles-lettres style.
Another feature of the poetical substvle is its volum e of em otional
-Colouring. Mere again tne problem oi q u an tity comes up. The em otional
elem ent is characteristic of the belles-lettres sty le in general. B ut poetry
has it in full m easure. This is, to some ex ten t, due to the rhythm ic foun
dation of verse, but more particu larly to the great num ber of em otionally
coloured words. True, the degree of em otiveness in works of belles-lettres
depends also on the idiosyncrasy of the w riter, on the content, and on the
purport. But em otiveness rem ains an essential property of the style in
general and it becomes more compressed and substantial in the poetic
substyle. T his feature of the poetic substyle has won formal expression in
poetic words which have been regarded as conventional sym bols of poetic
language.
In the history of poetic language there are several im portant stages
of developm ent. At every stage the rhythm ic and phonetic arrangem ent,
which is the m ost characteristic feature of the substyle, rem ains its essence.
As regards the vocabulary, it can be described as noticeably literary.
The colloquial elem ents, though they have elbowed their way into poetry
at some stages in its developm ent, still rem ain essentially unim portant
and, a t certain periods, were quite alien to the style. But even common
literary w'ords become conspicuous because of the new significance they
acquire in a line of poetry.
W ords com pletely colourless in a purely intellectual settin g , w rites
S. U llm ann, m ay suddenly disclose unexpected resources of expressive
ness in em otive or poetic discourse. Poets m ay rejuvenate and revitilize
faded images by tracing them back to their etym ological roots. W hen
T. S. E lio t says a thousand visions and revisions, revision is suddenly
illum inated and becomes tran sp aren t. 2
Poetry has long been regarded as the dom ain of the few and the choice
of vocabulary has alw ays been in accord w ith this principle. The words,
their forms, and also certain syntactical patterns w'ere usually chosen to
m eet the refined tastes of adm irers of poetry.
In the chapter on poetic words, we have pointed out the character of
these w'ords and the role they have played in preserving the so-called
p u rity of poetic language. The struggle against the conventionalities
1 Op. cit., p. 165.
2 Ullmann, S . Words and Their Use. Ldn, 1951, p. 37.

267

of the poetic language found its expression in the famous Preface to

Lyrical B allads w ritten by W ordsworth and Coleridge which undoubt
edly bore.som e fruitful results in liberalizing poetic language. They tried
to in stitu te a reform in poetic diction which would employ a selection of
language really used by m en as they put it in their Preface. However,
their protest against poetical words and phrases was doomed to failure.
The tran sitio n from refined poetical language, select and polished, to a
language of colloquial plainness w ith even ludicrous images and associa
tions was too violent to be successful. Shelley and Byron saw the reaction
ary retrograde aspect of the reform and criticized the poetic language
of the Lake poets, regarding many of the words they used as new poeticism s.
However, the protest raised by W ordsworth and Coleridge reflected
the growing dissatisfaction w'ith the conventionalities of poetic diction.
Some of the m orphological categories of the English language, as, for
instance, the Present Continuous tense, the use of nouns as adjectives
and other kinds of conversion had long been banned from poetical lan
guage. The Quarterly Review, a literary journal of the 19th century,
blamed Keats for using new words coined by m eans of conversion. After
the m anifesto of W ordsworth and Coleridge the dem ocratization of
poetic language was accelerated, however. In B yrons Beppo and Don
J u a n we already find a great num ber of colloquial expressions and even
slang and cant But whenever Byron uses non-poetic words or expressions,
he shows th at he is w'ell aware of their stylistic value. He does this either
by foot-notes or by m aking a comment in the text itself as, for exam ple,
such phrases as:
He was free to confess(whence comes this phrase?
Ist English? No *tis only p a rlia m e n ta ry )
or:
......................................................................to use a phrase
By which such things are settled now adays.
B ut poetical language rem ains and will alw ays rem ain a specific
mode of com m unication differing from prose. T h is specific mode of com
m unication uses specific means. The poetic w'ords and phrases, peculia>
syntactical arrangem ent, orderly phonetic and rhythm ical p a tte rn s have
long been the signals of poetic language. But the most im portant of all
is the power of the words used in poetry to express more than they usually
signify in ordinary language.
A. A. P otebnya expresses this idea in the following words:
W hat is called com m on language can at best be only a tech
nical language, because it presupposes a ready-m ade th ought, but
does not serve as a m eans of shaping the th o u g h t. It (the common)
is essentially a prose language. 1
The sequence of words in an utterance is h a rd ly , if at a ll, predictable
in poetry.
1 Op. tit., p. 31.
268

Sem antic entropy is, therefore, an inherent property of poetic language.

But som etim es this entropy grows so large that it stuns and stupefies
the reader, preventing him from decoding the message, or it makes him
exert his m ental powers to the utm ost in order to discover the significance
given by the poet to ordinary words. This is the case w ith some of the
modern English and Am erican poetry. Significant in this respect is the
confession of Kenneth A llot, com piler of The Penguin Book of C ontem
porary Verse, who in his introductory note on W illiam E m psons poetry
writes: I have chosen poems I understand, or think I understand, and
therefore can adm ire... There are some poems I cannot understand at a ll. 1
P oetry of th is kind will alw ays rem ain the dom ain of the few. In
stead of poetic precision we find a deliberate plunge into sem antic entropy
which renders the message incom prehensible. The increase of entropy in
poetic language is m ainly achieved by queer word com binations, frag
m entary sy n tax alm ost w ithout logical connections.
We have already pointed out th a t in the history of the developm ent
of the literary language, a prom inent role was played by m en-of-letters.
There was a constant struggle between those who were dissatisfied w ith
the established laws which regulated the functioning of literary English
and those who tried to restrain its progressive m arch.
The same struggle is evident in the developm ent of poetic language.
In ascertaining the norms of 19th century poetic language, a m ost signif
icant part was played by Byron and Shelley. Byron mocked at the efforts
of W ordsworth and the other Lake poets to reform poetical language. In
his critical rem arks in the polem ic poem English Bards and Scotch R e
viewers and in his other works, he showed th at the true progress of po
etic language lies not in the denial of the previous sty listic norms, but in
the creative reshaping and recasting of the values of the past, their ad ap
tatio n to the requirem ents of the present and a healthy co n tin u ity of
long-established trad itio n . Language by its very nature will not tolerate
sudden unexpected and quick changes. It is evolutionary in essence.
Poetry, likewise, will revolt against forcible im positions of strange forms
and will eith er reject them or m ould them in the furnace of recognized
traditio n al p atterns. Shelley in his preface to The Chenchi writes:
I have w ritten more carelessly; th at is, w ithout an over-fas
tidious and learned choice of words. In this respect I entirely agree
w ith those m odern critics who assert th at in order to move men to
true sym pathy we m ust use the fam iliar language of men, and th at
our great ancestors the ancient English poets are the w riters, a study
of whom m ight incite us to do that for our own age which they have
done for theirs. But it m ust be the real language of men in general
and not th at of any particu lar class to whose society the w riter h ap
pens to belong.
In S helleys works we find the m aterializatio n of these principles.
R evolutionary content and the progress of science laid new dem ands
on poetic diction and, as a result, scientific and political term s and im
1 The Penguin Book of Contemporary Verse. Ldn, I960, p. 157.
269

agery based on new scientific data, together w ith lively colloquial words,
poured into poetic language. Syntax also underw ent noticeable changes,
but hardly ever to the extent of m aking the utterance unintelligible.
The lib eralization of poetic language reflects the general struggle for a
freer developm ent of the literary language, in contrast to the rigorous
restrictions imposed on it by the language lawgivers of the 18th century.
In poetry words become more conspicuous, as if they were a ttired
in some m ysterious m anner, and m ean more than they m ean in ordinary
neutral com m unications. Words in poetic language live a longer life
than ordinary words. They are intended to last. This is, of course,
achieved m ainly by the connections the words have w ith one another
and, to some ex ten t, by the rhythm ical design which makes the words
stand out in a more isolated m anner so th at they seem to possess a
greater degree of independence and significance.
2. EMOTIVE PROSE

The substyle of em otive prose has the same common features as have
been poipted out for the belles-lettres style in general; but all these fea
tures are correlated differently in em otive prose. The imagery is not so
rich as it is in poetry; the percentage of words w ith contextual m eaning is
not so high as in poetry; the idiosyncrasy of the author is not so clearly
discernible. A part from m etre and rhym e, w hat most of all distinguishes
em otive prose from the poetic style is the com bination of the literary
variant of the language, both in words and syntax, with, the colloquial
v ariant. It would perhaps be more exact to define this # a com bination
of the spoken and w ritten v arieti.es of the language, inasmuch as there are
always two forms of com m unication presentmonologue (the w riters
speech) and dialogue (the speech of the characters).
The language of the w riter conforms or is expected to conform to the
literary norm s of the given period in the developm ent of the English
lite ra ry language T he language of the hero of a_novel, or of a story will
in the m ain be chosen^ in order to cha racterize the m an .himself. True,
this language Is" also subjected to some kind of reshaping. This is an
indispensable requirem ent of any literary work. Those w riters who neglect
this requirem ent m ay unduly contam inate the literary language by flood
ing the speech of th eir characters w ith non-literary elem ents, thus over
doing the otherw ise very advantageous device of depicting a hero through
his speech.
It follows then th at the colloquial language in the belles-lettres style
is not a pure and sim ple reproduction of w hat m ight be the natural speech
of living people: It has undergone changes introduced by the w riter. The
colloquial speech has been made literature-like. This m eans th at only
the most strik in g elem ents of what m ight have been a conversation in life
are m ade use of, and even these have undergone some kind of transfor
m ation.
E m otive prose allows the use of elem ents from other styles as well.
Thus we find elem ents of the newspaper style (see, for exam ple, Sinclair
Lewiss It C ant H appen Here); the official style (see, for exam ple, the
270

business letters exchanged between two characters in G alsw orthys novel

The Man of P ro p erty); the style of scientific prose (see excerpts from
C ronins The C itad el where m edical language is used).
B ut all these styles under the influence of em otive prose undergo
a kind of transform ation. A style of language th at is m ade use of in prose
is diluted by the general features of the belles-lettres style which subjects
it to its own purposes. Passages w ritten in other styles m ay be viewed
only as interpolations and not as constituents of the style.
Emotive prose as a separate form of im aginative lite ra tu re , that
is fiction, came into being rather late in the history of the English lit
erary language. It is well known that in early Anglo-Saxon literatu re
there was no em otive prose. Anglo-Saxon literatu re was m ainly poetry,
songs of a religious, m ilitary and festive character. The first em otive
prose which appeared was translations from L atin of stories from the
B ible and the Lives of the Saints.
M iddle English prose lite ratu re was also educational, represented
m ostly by tran slatio n s of religious works from L atin. In the 11th and
12th centuries as a result of the Norm an conquest, Anglo-Saxon lite ratu re
fell into a decline. Almost all th a t was w ritten was in French or in L atin.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, however, there appeared the T ales of
King A rthur and his Round T able, some of which were w ritten in verse
and others in prose. They were im itatio n s of French models. In the 14th
century there was an event which played an im portant role not only in
the developm ent of general standard English, but in the developm ent of
the peculiarities of em otive prose. This was the tran slatio n of the Bible
m ade by W yclif and his disciples.
E m otive prose actually began to assum e a life of its own in the sec
ond half of the 15th century when rom ances and chronicles describing
the life and adventures of sem i-legendary kings and knights began to
appear. One of the most notable of these rom ances was M alorys M orte
D a rth u r, p rin ted by C axton in 1471. It w inds up a long series o'f poems
and tales of chivalry begun in the 12th century. It was retold in prose
from the French. The D eath of A rthur is a work of great historical,
literary and sty listic interest. A ttem pts were m ade to introduce dialogue
into the tex tu re of the au th o rs narrativ e before this, but here dialogue
becomes an organic p art of the work. Dialogue w ithin the a u th o rs n arra
tive is a sty listic constituent of the substyle of em otive prose. True,
M alorys dialogues were far from even resem bling the natural features of
living colloquial speech. The speech of the heroes lacks ellip tical sentences,
breaks in the narrativ e and other typical features of the spoken varie
ty of E nglish. Em otional colouring is shown not in the syntactical design
of the sentences but in the au th o r's rem arks and descriptions. But nev
ertheless M orte D arthur m ust be counted as a historical landm ark in
establishing the principles of em otive prose. The introduction of dialogue
m eans th at the road to the more or less free use of colloquial language
was already m arked out. F urther on, colloquial elem ents began to infil
tra te into poetic d iction as well.
W ith the com ing of th ^ s i x t e e n t h c e n t u r y , which inciden
tally heralded a great advance in all spheres of English social life.
271

English em otive prose progressed rapidly. Numerous translations from

L atin and Greek played a great role in helping to work out sty listic norms
for the em otive prose of that period. T ranslations from m odern languages,
of Italian and French romances in particu lar, also began to influence the
sty listic norms of em otive prose. The necessity to find adequate language
means to convey the ideas and the sty listic peculiarities of the text in
the source-language m ade the translators extend the scope of language
resources already used in literature, thus enlarging the p o ten tialitie s of
sty listic devices and language m edia.
S ixteenth century professional literary m en like P hilip Sidney, Jo h n
Lyly, Robert Greene and others known as the U niversity W its, along
side Iheir interests in poetry and the dram atic a rt, did not neglect em o
tive prose. A special stylistic trend arose named after a literary work by
Lyly en titled Euphues, the Anatomy of W it. The whole book is w ritten
in a high-flown, over-refined manner. There is a fine subtlety of expres
sion combined w ith an unrestrained use of periphrasis. One can find allu
sions, parallel constructions, antithesis, sim iles and m any other sty listic
devices in such abundance th at they pile up on one another or form long
monotonous chains, the links of which are instances of a given sty listic
device.
Inasmuch as this literary work has had rather a notable effect on
the subsequent developm ent of em otive prose (Lyly is called the pioneer
of the English novel), it will not come am iss to give a sam ple of the prose
of "Euphues :
The m erchant th at trav aileth for gain, the husbandm an th at
toileth for increase, the lawyer th a t pleadeth for gold, the craftsm an
th at seeketh to live by his labour, all these, after they have fatted
them selves w ith sufficient, either take their ease or less pain than
they were accustom ed. Hippom enes ceased to run when he had gotten
the goal, Hercules to labour when he had obtained the victory, Mer
cury to pipe when he had cast Argus in a slum ber. Every action h ath his
end; and then we leave to sweat when we have found the sweet. The
ant, though she toil in sum m er, yet in w inter she leaveth to trav ail.
The bee, though she delight to suck the fair flower, yet is she at last
cloyed w ith honey. The spider th at weaveth the finest thread ceaseth
at the last, when she h ath finished her web.
But in the action and the study of the m ind, gentlem en, it is
far otherw ise, for he that tasteth the sweet of his learning endureth
all the sour of labour. He th at seeketh the depth of knowledge is as
it were in a la b y rin th ...
This passage shows the prolixity of w hat came to be called the e up h u i s l i c s t y l e 1 w ith its illustrations built on sem antic p arallel
ism and the m uch-favoured device of m ythological allusions; w ith its
carefully chosen vocabulary, its refinem ent and grace.

1 The word style is used here not in the terminological sense employed in this
book, but in a more general, looser application.
272

L y ly s aim was to w rite in a style th a t was distinct from colloquial

speech and yet not poetry. He actu ally says th at E nglishm en wished
to hear a finer speech than the language w ill allow . E uphuism was
orien tated upon the language of the court and the nobility and barred
all kinds of lively colloquial words and expressions. In general it is
characterized by a rtific ia lity of m anner.
E uphuism bred a liking for excessive em bellishm ent, and th is in
its tu rn , called forth an unrestrained use of rhetorical devices unm o
tiv ated by the content and unjustified by the purport of the com m unica
tion.
B ut not all 16th century em otive prose was of th is character. W alter
R aleighs w ritin g was much sim pler, both in vocabulary and syntax;
it was less em bellished and often colloquial. Roger Ascham, though an
excellent classical scholar, chose to wrrite English m atter in the English
speech for English m en. He w'rites in a plain, straightforw ard, clear
m anner w ith no a ttem p t at elegance. P h ilip Sidney wrote prose th at
could be as clear as A scham s. Even when his sentences are long, they do
not lose th eir clarity . In contrast to Ascham he did not scorn ornam ent,
b u t, unlike Lyly, he used it in m oderation. The prose of R ichard Hooker,
who w'rote on contraversial religious them es, is restrained and has power
and balance. Hooker also had considerable influence on the developm ent
of English em otive prose.
Euphuism , however, had m erits in its tim e. It m ade m en-of-letters
look for finer, more elegant forms of expression and this search inev
itab ly m ade them more form-conscious they learned to polish their
language and, to some extent, developed a feeling for prose rhythm . B ut
at later periods euphuism became reactionary, inasm uch as it barred all
kinds of lively colloquial w'ords and expressions and hindered the process
of lib eratin g the belles-lettres style from rigid poetical restrictions. The
dem ocratization of the m eans of expression was incom patible w ith the
aristocratic a rtific ia lity and prettiness of euphuism .
A great influence on the further developm ent of the characteristic
features of the belles-lettres sty le was exercised by Shakespeare. A lthough
he never wrote prose, except for a few insertions in some of his plays, he
declared his poetical credo and his a ttitu d e tow ards all kinds of em bellish
m ents in language in some of his works.1 Also in his Loves Labour
L ost Shakespeare condemns the em bellishing tendencies of some of the
poets. Here is a w ell-know n q uotation which has long been used to char
acterize the pom pous, showy m anner of expression.
Taffeta phrases, silken term s precise,
T hree-pild hyperboles, spruce affectation:
Figures pedantical; these sum m er flies
Have blown me full of m aggot ostentation:
I do forswear th em ...
On the whole the em otive prose of the 16th century had not yet
shaped itself as a separate style. Verse and dram a predom inate among
1 See Galperin I. R . An Essay in S ty listic A nalysis. ., 1968. p. 18.

10

2376

273

works of belles-lettres. The small am ount of prose w ritten, in p artic u la r em otive prose, can be ascribed to the general strong tendency to regard
the spoken variety of the English language as inferior and therefore un
w orthy to be represented in belles-lettres. And w ithout speech of char
acters there can be no tru e em otive prose. This perhaps explains the
fact th a t most of the prose works of the period were histories, biographies,
accounts of travels, essays on different philosophical and aesthetic
problems. There were, of course, exceptions like R obert G reenes Life
and D eath of Ned Browne and Thom as N ashs The U nfortunate T rav
eller, or The Life of Ja c k W ilton, the former being a story of crim e
and the la tte r an adventure story. These are precursors of the m odern
novel.
The s e v e n t e e n t h
c e n t u r y saw a considerable develop
m ent in em otive prose. It was an epoch of great political and religious
strife, and much th a t was w ritten had a publicistic aim . The decline in
dram a due to the closing of the theatres by the P u ritan s in 1648 m ay
also have had its effect in stim ulating the developm ent of em otive prose.
The two contrary tendencies in the use of language means, so strik
ing in the 16th century, assum e new forms in the 17th. There was first
of all the co n tin u atio n of the classical trad itio n , and secondly there
was the less scholarly, bu t more English prose th a t had been em ployed
by the forty-seven tran slato rs of the A uthorized V ersion of the Bible.
As is known, during the 16th century the English literary language
had received large additions from classical Greek and L atin and also
from m odern French and Italian . Some w riters considered it good style
to introduce not only lexical but also syntactical innovations: sentences
were often b u ilt according to classical patterns. B urton, Browne and o th
ers constructed long passages following L atin models. One of the 17th
century w riters states:
M any th in k th a t they can never speak elegantly, nor w rite sig
nifican tly , except they do it in a language of th eir own devising;
as if they were asham ed of their m other tongue, and thought it not
sufficiently curious to express th eir fancies. By m eans whereof,
more French and L atin words have gained ground upon us since
th e m iddle of Queen E lisab eth s reign th an were ad m itted by our
ancestors... 1
The two tendencies were com bined in the prose works of M ilton
who, being a P u ritan , recognized the B ible as the highest au th o rity
in all m atters, but who had a deep knowledge of the ancient classics
as well.
The influence of the B ible on English em otive prose is p articu larly
strik in g in the works of Jo h n B unyan. The P ilg rim s Progress rep
resents a new trend in the developm ent of em otive prose. H ere is an ex
cerpt from the work:
Now G iant D espair had a wife, and her nam e was Diffidence;
so when he was gone to bed, he told his wife w hat he had done, to
1 Cit. from C ham bers Cyclopedia of English L iterature, p. 310.
274

w it, th a t he had taken a couple of prisoners and cast them into his
dungeon, for trespassing on his grounds. Then he asked her also
w hat he had best to do fu rth er to them . So she asked w hat they were,
whence they came, and w hither they were bound, and he told her.
Then she counselled him , th a t when he arose in the m orning he
should beat them w ithout m ercy. ...T h e next night she talked w ith
her husband about them further, and understanding th a t they were
yet alive, did advise him to counsel them to m ake aw ay w ith them
selves. So when m orning was come, he goes to them in a surly m an
ner, as before, and perceiving them to be very sore w ith the stripes
th a t he had given them the day before, he told them th a t since they
were never like to come out of th a t place, their only way w ould be
forthw ith to m ake an end of them selves, either w ith knife, h alter,
or poison: for w hy, said he, should you choose life, seeing it is a tte n d
ed w ith so m uch bitterness? B ut they desired him to let them go.
... Then did th e prisoners consult between them selves, w hether it
was best to take his counsel or no; and thus they began to discourse:
Chr. B rother, said Christian, w hat shall we do? The life th at
we now live is m iserable. For my p art, I know not w hether it is best
to live thus, or die out of hand. My soul chooseth strangling rath er
th a n life , and the grave is m ore easy for me than this dungeon? S hall
we be ruled by th e giant?
Hope. Indeed o ur present condition is dreadful, ...
W ell, tow ards the evening the giant goes down into the dun
geon again, to see if his prisoners had taken his counsel; ...
In this excerpt th e m ain peculiarities of the style of em otive prose of
the p u ritan trend stand out clearly. S im plicity in choice of words and
in syntax is the predom inant feature of the language of th is type of em o
tiv e prose. The speech of the characters is m ainly shaped in the form of
indirect discourse. W hen direct speech appears, it is arranged as in a
play, th a t is, the speaker is indicated by giving his full nam e or its con
tracted form a t the beginning of a line. The nam e is not sy n tactically
connected w ith th e ch aracters utterance. It is interesting to note in
passing th a t the yet unestablished norm s of em otive prose are reflected
in a com bination of the syntactical arrangem ent of a play and th a t of
em otive prose, as, for exam ple, in th is passage where the nam e of the speak
er precedes th e utterance as in plays, and the same nam e is m entioned
w ith in the direct speech as if it were introduced by the w riter.
So there is a kind of m ixture of two substyles, em otive prose and dra
m a. However, when incursions of direct speech are short, they are given
w ith in the a u th o rs n arrativ e, for exam ple,
...th e ir only way w ould be forthw ith to m ake an end of them
selves, eith er w ith knife, h alter, or poison: for why, said he, should
you choose life, seeing it is atten d ed w ith so much bitterness? B ut
they desired him to let them go ...
A nother p ecu liarity of the prose of this period is a rath er poorly
developed system of connectives. The connectives and, so that, then
10*

275

are used ab u n d an tly and often in a w ay th a t does no t com ply w ith their
generally accepted functions.
B u n y an V w o rk s have played a considerable role in establishing the
m ost characteristic features of em otive prose.
Im agery, so characteristic of the belles-lettres language style in gen
eral, begins to colour em otive prose differently from the way it is used
in poetry and plays of the non-puritan trend. The im agery in the P il
g rim s Progress is based on allegory. Allegory is akin to m etaphor, but
it differs from the la tte r by having a definite sym bolic m eaning. A lle
gory in its m ost common form is a v ariety of antonom asia. W ords de
noting ab stract notions are used as proper nam es. So, in the passage
quoted above the name of the giant is D espair, his w ifes nam e
D iffidence, th e nam e of the Castle is D oubting C astle, the nam es of
the pilgrim s are C h ristia n and H opeful.
T his type of im agery has considerable tenacity in em otive prose and
p artic u la rly in plays.
The p u ritan influence on the language of em otive prose at this tim e
displays w hat m ay be called an anti-renaissance spirit. This is shown in
the disparagem ent of m ythological im agery and any em bellishm ent of
language w hatever. B u nyans abstract w ay of treatin g ordinary everydaylife events and conflicts led to an abstract m anner in depicting his charac
ters. They are, as a rule, devoid of in d iv id u ality . There is no typification
of a ch aracters speech, and therefore there is practically no difference
between th e language of the author and th a t of the heroes. A tendency
to sim plify the literary language, resulting from the derogatory a ttitu d e
of the p u ritan s to classical learning, is apparent in seventeenth century
em otive prose, at least am ong some w riters.
However, the language of em otive prose at this period, as a t pre
ceding and subsequent periods, did not progress along one line. The clas
sical trad itio n and the over-use of em bellishm ents were also alive, and
can be seen at any period in the developm ent of the English literary
language, and of em otive prose in p articu lar, in a greater or lesser de
gree right u n til the beginning of the 20th century.
The struggle between the two opposing tendencies in rendering
ideas in the style of em otive prose reflects the political and religious
strife between the P u rita n s and the C avaliers, the nam e given to those
who were on the side of C harles I against the P u rita n P a rty during the
C ivil W ar of 1642 1652.
Among representatives of the C avalier trend in lite ratu re we shall
m ention Jerem y T aylor, whose works, m ainly sermons, are illu stra tiv e
of th is ornam ental m anner.
... he strongly resembles Spenser in his prolific fancy and dic
tion, in a certain m usical arrangem ent and sweetness of expression,
in prolonged description, and in delicious m usings and reveries,
suggested by some favourite image or m etaphor, on which he dwells
w ith the fondness and enthusiasm of a young poet. In these passages
he is also ap t to run into excess; ep ith et is heaped upon ep ith et, and
figure upon figure; all the quaint conceits of his fancy, and the cu
276

rious stores of his learning are dragged in, till both precision and
p ro p riety are som etim es lost. 1
There was also a th ird trend in em otive prose which began to develop
in th e 17th century and which became m ore apparent in subsequent
periods. R epresentative of th is trend are Thom as S prat and in p artic u
lar Jo h n D ryden. T his trend is responsible for the introduction into w rit
ing of common words and phrases known as colloquialism s. True, in
17th century em otive prose these elem ents were yet few. B ut th is third
trend, as it were, broke the ice and a trickle of colloquial words began
to flow into em otive prose.
Thom as S prat raised his voice against luxury and redundance of
speech. He beheld w ith indignation how m any m ists and uncertainties
these specious tropes and figures have brought on our know ledge. He
was all for a close, naked, natu ral way of speaking, positive expressions,
clear senses, a n ativ e easiness. H e preferred the language of artisans,
countrym en and m erchants before th a t of w its and scholars. 2
The m odels of prose w riting at D rydens disposal were the colloquial
m anner of B unyan and sim ilar w riters, on the one hand, and, on the
o th er, the elaborate m anner of L yly, Sidney, Browne, Jerem y Taylor and
others. D ryden retain ed the sim ple diction, and disciplined the loose
everyday expressions of the former, he cut off the aw kward L atinism s
and long-winded elegance of the latter. The features of D rydens prose
are clarity , sim plicity of sentence structure, lack of ornam ent, fluency
and rh y th m . The influence of D ryden on both em otive prose and p u b
l i c i s ts prose, which began to develop ra p id ly in the 18th century, was
felt throughout the century. D ryden has been called the father of English
literary criticism .
A fter the R estoration of the M onarchy in 1660 a new trend arose
in lite ratu re which was also reflected in prose. The critical sp irit was
more and more tak in g the place of the im aginative. E m otive prose was
becoming a weapon of satire and not sim ply a m eans of describing and
in terpreting the life of the day. This trend, m aterialized m ainly in
essays, was o u tstan d in g in the prose works of D ryden (his Essay on
D ram atic Poesy in particular) and continued into the 18th century,
where it became conspicuous.
E i g h t e e n t h c e n t u r y em otive prose when com pared to th at
of the seventeenth is, in its m ost essential, leading features, character
ized by the predom inance of the th ird trend. This third trend, w hich m ay
ju stly be called realistic, is not the further developm ent of the p u ritan
tendencies described above, although, doubtless, these tendencies bore
some relevance to its typical features. The m otto of this trend m ay be
expressed by the phrase call a spade a spade. By this phrase the ad
herents of th e realistic trend in lite ratu re , and in em otive prose in p a rtic
ular, expressed th e idea th a t all things should be called by their right
names, th a t the w riters should use plain, blunt words. This was a kind
1 Chamber!' Cyclopedia, p. 290.
2 See Saintsbury, G. A Short H istory of English L iterature. L dn, 1962, p. 512.
277

of protest against the com plicated and elaborate periphrases by which

the m ost common concepts were often described.
The h istory of English lite ratu re gives their due to such prom inent
m en-of-letters as Defoe, Swift and F ielding who were ardent apologists
of th is direction in prose w riting, and who created fascinating novels,
most of w hich are still reckoned am ong the masterpieces of English
literatu re. The aim of this new school of w riters was to m ake the language
clear, precise, w'ell-balanced, and m oderate. They developed a m anner
of w ritin g which by its strength, sim plicity and directness was ad m ira
bly adapted to ordinary every-day needs. B ut still the general philosophi
cal and aesthetic views dom inating at this period greatly influenced the
m anner of w riting.
The w riters of the 18th century did much to establish em otive prose
as an independent form of literary art.
They considered th a t, being educated representatives of their society,
it was their d uty to safeguard the p u rity of the English language. How'ever, the principles they followed were obscure and even contradictory.
On the one hand, some of them , like Johnson, were against the in tro
duction into literary English of any colloquial elements, regarding the
latter as being inferior to the polished language of educated people.
On the other hand, m any others felt an urgent necessity to bridge the
gap between literary and colloquial modes of expression in order to achieve
a greater vividness and flex ib ility of utterance. Therefore, though us
ing the general language of th is period, at the same tim e they sought to
subject it to conventional sty listic norm s.1
These sty listic norm s were very rigid. So much so, th at the individual
peculiarities of the authors were frequently over-weighed by the general
requirem ent of the sty listic norms.
These norms are revealed in the levelling-off of the differences be
tween the literary language and the spoken language of the tim e. The
a u th o rs speech and th at of the heroes resemble each other, so there is
no speech characterization. All the characters speak alike and alm ost in
the same way as the author himself does.
A nother sty listic feature of the em otive prose of the 18th century
is a peculiar m anner of conveying the impression th at the event n arrated
actu ally occurred, th a t the n arrativ e possessed authenticity. This m an
ner of w riting im parts some of the features of official docum ents to em o
tiv e prose. Some of the works of em otive prose therefore, w ith th eir w ealth
of detail and w hat seems to be genuine fact, resemble chronicles. W hen the
n arrativ e is w ritten in the first person singular, as it very often is, it
reads alm ost like a diary. The narrativ e itself is generally im passionate,
devoid of any em otional elem ents, w ith strict observance of syntactical
rules governing the structure of the sentences. In such works there are
very few epithets, there is alm ost no imagery. Such are m ost of the nov
els by Defoe, Sw ift, Fielding and others.
1 See also E . . \ \
. , 1952, 5,
. 40.

278

Illu strativ e in this respect are the works of Defoe. He really deserves
the title of th e originator of the au th en tica te d m anner in em otive
prose. His novel Robinson Crusoe is w ritten in a language which by
its lexical and syntactical peculiarities has very m uch in common w ith
the style of an official report.
Joseph Addison and R ichard Steele, whose essays were w ritten for
the journals The T atler and The S pectator also follov'ed the general
s ty listic principles of this period. The m ost strik in g feature, of course,
is the inadequate representation of direct speech. The m ost lively con
versations (dialogues) are generally rendered in indirect speech and only
fragm ents of lively direct intercourse can be found in long passages of
the n arrativ e. These are m ostly exclam atory sentences, like S ir Cloudesley Shovel! A very g allan t m an! or D r. Busby! A great m anl He
w hipped my grandfather; a very great m an!
The 18th century is ju stly regarded as the century which formed
em otive prose as a self-sufficient branch of the belles-lettres style. But
s till, the m anner in which em otive prose used language m eans and s ty
listic devices in some cases still resembled the m anner of poetic style.
At th is tim e also it was difficult to tell a piece of em otive prose from an
essay or even from scientific prose. This was m ainly due to the fact th at
the m ost essential and characteristic features of these styles were not
yet fully shaped.
It was only by the end of the 18th century th at the m ost typical fea
tures of the em otive prose style became really prom inent. Laurence
S terne w ith his T ristram S handy contributed greatly to this process.
S terne thought th at the m ain task of em otive prose was ... to depict the
inner world of m an, his ever-changing moods. Therefore at the foundation
of his novel lies the em otional and not the logical p rinciple. 1
W ith Sterne, em otive prose began to use a num ber of stylistic de
vices which practically determ ined m any of its characteristic features.
In T ristram S handy there appear rudim entary forms of represented
speech; the speech of the characters approaches the norm s of lively col
loquial language; the narrative itself begins to reflect the individuality
of the au th o r, not only in his world outlook b u t, which is very im por
tan t for linguistic analysis, in his m anner of using the language means
of his tim e. He attem p ts to give speech characteristics to his characters,
uses the different sty listic strata of the English vocabulary w'idely both
in the individual speech of his characters and in the language of the author
himself.
The role of Sterne in the shaping of the typical features of em otive
prose of the following centuries is under-estim ated. He was the first
to m ake an a ttem p t to overcome the trad itio n al form of the then fashion
able n arrativ e in depicting characters, events, social life and hum an
conflicts. It w as necessary to enliven the dialogue and it w'as Laurence
Sterne w'ho was able to do so. The great realistic w riters of the nineteenth
and the beginning of the tw entieth centuries to some extent follow'ed
in his footsteps.
1 . . . ., 1956, . 184.
279

N i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y em otive prose can already be regarded

as a su b sty leof the belles-lettres language style com plete in its most
fundam ental properties as they are described at the beginning of this
chapter.
The general tendency in English lite ratu re to depict the life of all
stra ta of English society called forth changes in regard to the language
used for th is purpose. S tandard English begins to actively absorb elem ents
of the English vocabulary which were banned in earlier periods from the
language of em otive prose, th at is, jargonism s, professional words, slang
dialectal words and even vulgarism s, though the la tte r were used spar
ingly and euphem isticallydamn was p rinted d , bloody, b and
the lik e.1 Illite ra te speech finds its expression in em otive prose through
the d istortion of the spelling of words, and the use of cockney and dia
lectal words; there appears a clear difference between the speech of the
w riter and th a t of his characters. A new feature begins to establish it
self as a property of em otive prose alone, nam ely, w hat m ay be called
m u ltip lic ity of styles. Language m eans typical of o th er styles of the
literary language are drawn into the system of expressive m eans and
sty listic devices of th is p artic u la r substyle. It has already been pointed
o u t th a t these insertions do not rem ain in th eir typical form, they are
recast to com ply w ith the essential principles of em otive prose.
Here is an exam ple of a newspaper brief found in T hackerays V an
ity F air :
Governorship of C oventry Island. H. M. S. Yellow jack, Com
m ander Jau n d ers, has brought letters and papers from C oventry
Island. H. E. S ir Thom as Liverseege had fallen a v ictim to the pre
vailin g fever at Sw am pton. His loss is deeply felt in the flourishing
colony. We hear th at the governorship has been offered to Colonel
R aw don Craw ley, . B ., a distinguished W aterloo officer. We need
not only m en of acknowledged bravery, but m en of ad m inistrative
talen ts to superintend the affairs of our colonies; and we have no
doubt th a t the gentlem an selected by the Colonial Office to fill the
lam ented vacancy which has occurred at C oventry Island is ad m i
ra b ly calculated for the post which he is about to occupy.
By the end of the n ineteenth century and p artic u la rly at the begin
ning of the tw en tieth , certain sty listic devices had been refined and
continue to be further developed and perfected. Am ong these m ust be
m entioned represented speech, both uttered and unuttered (inner),
and also various/w ays of using detached construction, w hich is p artic u
la rly favoured by present-day m en-of-letters. S yntax, too, has under
gone m odifications in the em otive prose of the last century and a half.
P r e s e n t - d a y em otive prose is to a large ex ten t characterized
by th e breaking-up of tra d itio n a l syntactical designs of the preceding
1 Compare the use of vulgar word? (swear-words, obscenities and the like) in Eng
lish and particularly in A m erican em otive prose of the present day. See, for example,
Jo h n O H a ra s novel From the Terrace .
280

periods. Not only detached construction, but also fragmentation of

syntactical models, peculiar, unexpected ways of combining sentences,
especially the gap-sentence link and other modem syntactical patterns,
are freely introduced into present-day emotive prose. Its advance is
so rapid th a t it is only possible to view it in the gross.
Many interesting investigations have been made of the character
istic features of the language of different writers where what is typical
and what is idiosyncratic are subjected to analysis. But so far no deduc
tions have been m ade as to the general trends of emotive prose of the
nineteenth century, to say nothing of the tw entieth. This work awaits
investigators who m ay be able to draw up some general principles
distinguishing modern emotive prose from the emotive prose of the
preceding periods.
3. LANGUAGE OF THE DRAMA

The th ird subdivision of the belles-lettres style is the I a n g a g e

o f p l a y s . The first thing to be said about the parameters of this
variety of belles-lettres is that, unlike poetry, which, except for bal
lads, in essence excludes direct speech and therefore dialogue, and unlike
emotive prose, which is a combination of monologue (the authors speech)
and dialogue (the speech of the characters), the language of plays is
entirely dialogue. The authors speech is almost entirely excluded ex
cept for th e playw rights remarks and stage directions, significant
though they m ay be.
But th e language of the characters is in no way the exact reproduction
of the norms of colloquial language, although the playwright seeks to
reproduce actual conversation as far as the norms of the written language
will allow. Any variety of the belles-lettres style will use the norms of
the literary language of the given period. True, in every variety there
will be found, as we have already shown, departures from the estab
lished literary norms. But in genuinely artistic work these departures will
never go beyond the boundaries of the permissible fluctuations of the
norms, lest the aesthetic aspect of the work should be lost.
It follows then th at the language of plays is always stylized, that
is, it strives to retain the modus of literary English, unless the play
wright has a particular aim which requires the use of non-literary forms
and expressions. However, even in this case a good playwright will use
such forms sparingly. Thus in Bernard Shaws play Fannys First Play,
Dora, a street-girl, whose language reveals her upbringing, her lack of
education, her way of living, her tastes and aspirations, nevertheless
uses com paratively fewnon-Hterarywords. A bunk, a squiffer are exam
ples. Even these are explained w ith the help of some literary device. This
is due to the stylization of the language.
The stylization of colloquial language is one of the features of plays
which at different stages in the history of English drama has manifested
itself in different ways revealing, on the one hand, the general trends of
the literary language and, on the other hand, the personal idiosyncrasies
of the writer.
281

In the 16th century the stylization of colloquial language was scarcely

m aintained due to several facts: plays were w ritten in haste for the com
panies of actors eagerly waiting for them, and they were w ritten for a
wide audience, mostly the common people. As is known, plays were
staged in public squares on a raised platform almost w ithout stage
properties.
The colloquial language of the 16th century, therefore, enjoyed an
almost unrestrained freedom and this partly found its expression in the
lively dialogue of plays. The general trends in the developing literary
language were also reflected in the wide use of biblical and mythological
allusions, evocative of Renaissance traditions, as well as in the abundant
use of compound epithets, which can also be ascribed to the influence
of the great Greek and L atin epics.
Generally speaking, the influence of Renaissance traditions can
also be seen in a fairly rich injection of oaths, curses, swear-words and
other vulgarisms into the language texture of the English drama of this
period* In order to check the unlim ited use of oaths and curses in plays,
an act of Parliam ent was passed in 1603 which forbade the profane .and
jesting use of the names of God, Christ, the Holy Ghost and the T rinity
in any stage play or performance. 1
The 16th century plays are m ostly w ritten in iambic pentameter,
rhymed or unrhymed. The plays of this period therefore were justly
called dramatic poetry. The staged performance, the dialogue char
acter of the discourse and the then obvious tendency to keep close to the
norms of colloquial language affected the verse and resulted in breaking
the regular rhythm of the metre.
This breaking of the regularity and strictness of the rhythm ical de
sign became one of the characteristic features of the language of dram a
tic poetry, and the language of plays of the earlier writers, who employed
a strict rhythm ic pattern without run-on lines (enjambment) or other
rhythmical modifications, is considered tedious and monotonous. Thus
one of the most notable plays of this period The Love of King David and
Fair Bethsabe by George Peele, in spite of its smooth musical versi
fication, is regarded as lacking variety. True, ...th e art of varying the
pauses and m odulating the verse without the aid of rhym e had not yet
been generally adopted.
But the great playwrights of this period, forced by the situation
in which the communicative process takes place on a stage facing
an audience , realized the necessity of m odulating the rhythm ical
pattern of blank verse. Marlowe, Greene, Nash, Shakespeare and Ben
Jonson modulated their verse to a greater or lesser degree. Marlowe,
for instance, found blank verse consisting of lines each ending w ith a
stressed monosyllable and each line standing by itself rather monotonous.
He modified the pauses, changed the stresses and made- the metre suit
the sense instead of making the sense fit the metre as his predecessors
1 See Koskenniemi, Inna. Studies in the Vocabulary of English Drama 15501600.
Helsinki, I960.
2 Chambers Cyclopedia of English Literature, pp. 116 117.
282

had done. H e even went further and introduced passages of prose into
the texture of his plays, thus aim ing at an elevation of the utterance.
His Life and Death of Dr. Faust us abounds in passages which can hard
ly be classed as verse. Compare, for example, the following two pas
sages from this play:
FAUST: Oh, if my soul must suffer for my sin,
Impose some end to my incessant pain.
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,
A hundred thousand, and at the last be saved:
No end is lim ited to damned souls.
FAUST: But Faust us *s offence can neer be pardoned. The ser
pent th at tem pted Eve may be saved, but not Faus
tus. Oh, gentlemen, hear me w ith patience, and tremble
not a t my speeches. Though my heart pant and quiver
to remember that I have been a student here these thirty
years, Oh, would I had neer seen W irt ember g, never
read book! And what wonders have I done, all Germany
can witness, yes, all the world: for which Faustus hath
lost both Germany and the world; ...
I t is unnecessary to point out the rhythm ical difference between
these two passages. The iam bic pentam eter of the first and thearhythm ical prose of the second are quite apparent.
Shakespeare also used prose as a stylistic device. The prose pas
sages in Shakespeares plays are well known to any student of Elizabeth
an drama.
Shakespeare used prose in passages ctf repartee between minor char
acters, particularly in his comedies; in The Taming of the Shrew
and Twelfth N ight, for instance, and also in the historical plays Hen
ry IV (Part I, P art II) and H enry V. In some places there are prose
monologues bearing th e characteristic features of rhythmical prose
w ith its parallel constructions, repetitions, etc. As an example we may
take F alstaffs monologue addressed to the young Prince Henry in Hen
ry IV (P art I, Act II, Sc. 4).
On the other hand, prose conversation between tragic characters
retains much of the syllabic quality of blank verse, e.g. the conver
sation between Polonius and H am let (H am let. Act II, Sc. 2).
A popular form of entertainm ent at the courts of Elizabeth and
the S tuarts was the masque. The origin of the court masque must have
been the performances presented .at court on celebrated occasions, as a
coronation, a peers m arriage, the birth of a prince and sim ilar events.
These performances were short sketches with allusions to Greek and
L atin mythology, allegoric in nature, frequently accompanied by song
and music and performed by the nobility. These masques are believed to
be th e earliest forms of what is now known as spoken drama. The ref
erence to the events of the day and allegoric representation of the members
of the nobility called forth the use of words and phrases alien to poetic
diction, and passages of prose began to flood into the text of the plays.
But the drama of the seventeenth century still holds fast to poetic
283

diction and up to .the decline of the theatre, which was caused by the
Puritan Government Act of 1642, a spoken drama as we know it to-day
had not seen the stage.
The revival of drama began only in the second half of the 18th century.
But the ultimate shaping of the play as an independent form of literary
work with its own laws of functioning, with its own characteristic language
features was actually completed only at the end of the 19th century.
The natural conventionality of any literary work is most obvious
in plays. People are made to talk to each other in front of an audience,
and yet as if there were no audience. Dialogue, which, as has been pointed
out, is by its very nature ephemeral, spontaneous, fleeting, is made last
ing. It is intended to be reproduced many times by different actors with
different interpretations. The dialogue loses its colloquial essence and
remains simply conversation in form. The individualization of each
characters speech then becomes of paramount importance because it
is the idiosyncrasy of expression which to some extent reveals the inner,
psychological and intellectual traits of the characters. The playwright
seeks to approximate a natural form of dialogue, a form as close to,natu
ral living dialogue as the literary norms will allow. But at the same time
he is bound by the aesthetico-cognitive function of the belles-lettres style
and has to mould the conversation, to suit the general aims of this style.
Thus the language of plays is a stylized type of the spoken variety
of language. What then is this process of stylization that the language
of plays undergoes? In what language peculiarities is the stylization
revealed?
The analysis of the language texture of plays has shown that the
most characteristic feature here is, to use the term of the theory of in
formation, redundancy of information caused by the necessity to amp
lify the utterance. This is done for the sake of the audience. It has al
ready been pointed out that the spoken language tends to curtail utter
ances, sometimes simplifying the syntax to fragments of sentences with
out even showing the character of their interrelation.
In plays the curtailment of utterances is not so extensive as it is
in natural dialogue. Besides, in lively conversation, even when a pro
longed utterance, a monologue, takes place, it is interspersed with the
interlocutors signals of attention, as they may be called, for example:
yes, yeah, oh, That's right, so, / see, good, yes I know, oh-oh,fine, Oh, my
goodness, oh dear, well, well-well, Well, / neverl, and the like.
In plays these signals of attention are irrelevant and therefore
done away with. The monologue in plays is never interrupted by any
such exclamatory words on the part of the person to whom the speech
is addressed. Further, in plays the characters' utterances are generally
much longer than in ordinary conversation.
Here is a short example of a dialogue between two characters from
Bernard Shaws play Heartbreak House:
CAPTAIN SHOTOVER: Nurse, who is this misguided and
unfortunate young lady?
284

NURSE: She says Miss Hessy invited her, sir.

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER: And had she no friend, no'parents
to warn her against m daughters invitations? This is a pretty
sort of house, by heavens! A young and attractive lady is invited
here. Her luggage is left on these steps, for hours; and she herself
is deposited in the poop and abandoned, tired and starving...
This passage is typical in many ways. First of all, the matter-of-fact
dialogue between the captain and the nurse gradually flows into a mon
ologue in which elements of the spoken language and of emotive prose
are merged. The monologue begins with the conjunction and which
serves to link the preceding question to the monologue. The question
after and is more of a question-in-the-narrative than a real question:
the captain does not expect an answer and proceeds with his monologue.
Then after an exclamatory This is a pretty sort of house, by heavens!,
which is actual, common colloquial, there again comes an utterance
intended to inform the audience of the Captain's attitude towards
the House and the household. Mark also the professionalism poop
used to characterize the language of Shotover, a retired ships captain.
In fact, there is no dialogue, or, as Prof. Jakubinsky has it, a false
dialogue, or monological dialogue, the nurses remark being a kind
of linking sentence between the two parts of the captains monologue.
These linking remarks serve to enliven the monologue, thus making it
easier to grasp the meaning of the utterance.
The monological character of the dialogue in plays becomes ap
parent also by the fact that two or more questions may be asked one af
ter another, as in the following excerpts:
1. LADY BRITOMART: Do you suppose this wicked and
immoral tradition can be kept up for ever? Do you pretend that
Stephen could not carry on the foundry just as well as ail the oth
er sons of big business houses?
2. BARBARA: Dolly: were you really in earnest about it?
Would you have joined if you had never seen me? (Shaw)
Needless to say, in ordinary conversation we never use a succession
of questions. Generally only one, perhaps two, questions are asked at
a time, and if more are asked then we already have a kind of emotion
al narrative; not a dialogue in the exact meaning of the word.
In ordinary conversation we generally find sequence sentences"
connected by sequence -signals. 1 These signals help to establish the
logical reference to what was said before, thus linking all sequential
series of sentences into one whole.
These sequence signals are mostly pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions,
as in:
The boy has just brought the evening paper. I t is at the door, or:
Up to 1945 L. was with Johnson, Since he has worked with us.
It must be remarked in passing that almost any lively dialogue will
hold a sequence of sentences for only a short span, the nature of lively
1 These also are terms suggested by Charles Fries.
285

dialogue allowing digressions from the starting point. How often do we

hear the phrase: What was I going to say?" or What was I driving at?
How did we come to talk about this?to ascertain the initial topic
of conversation which has been forgotten.
This is not the case in plays. The sequence of sentences reflecting
the sequence of thought, being directed by the purport oi the writer,
will not allow any digressions 'from the course taken, unless this was
the deliberate intention of the playwright. Therefore, unlike the real,
natural spoken variety of language, the language of plays is already
purposeful. The sequence signals, which are not so apparent in lively
conversation, become conspicuous in the language of plays. Here is
an illustrative example of a span of thought expressed in a number of
sentences all linked by the pronoun he and all referring to the first word
of the utterance *Dunnp which, in its turn, hooks the utterance to the
preceding sentence:
THE CAPTAIN: jDunn! I had a boatswain whose name
was Dunn, He was originally a pirate in China, He set up as a
ship's chandler with stores which I have every reason to believe He
stole from me. No doubt he became rich. Are you his daughter?
The degree to which the norms of ordinary colloquial language are
converted into those of the language of plays, that is, the degree to which
the spoken language is made literary varies at different periods in the de
velopment of drama and depends also on the idiosyncrasies of the play
wright himself. Here are two illustrations, one taken from Oliver
Goldsmiths play The Good-Natured Man, an 18th century play, and
the other from H. Pinter's play The Birthday Party, a play of our
time.
MR. CROAKER: But can anything be more absurd, than
to double our distresses by our apprehensions, and put it in the
power of every low fellow that can scrawl ten words of wretched
spelling, to torment us?
Compare this utterance with the following:
GOLDBERG: Whats your name now?
STANLEY: Joe Soarp.
GOLDBERG: Is the number 846 possible or necessary?
STANLEY: Neither.
GOLDBERG: Wrong! Is the number 846 possible or necessary?
STANLEY: Both
Almost the whole play is composed of such short questions and an
swers tending to reproduce an actual communicative process where the
sense is vague to the outsider. Considerable effort on the part of the
audience is sometimes necessary in order to follow the trend of the con
versation and decode the playwrights purport.
It may be remarked in passing that there is an analogous tendency
in modern emotive prose where dialogue occupies considerable space;
266

In some of the novels it takes up three or four pages running, thus resembl
ing a play.
In summing up, it will not come .amiss to state that any presentation
of a. play is an aesthetic procedure and the language of plays is of the
type which is meant to be reproduced. Therefore, even when the language
of a play approximates that of a real dialogue, it will none the less be
stylized, The ways and means this stylization is carried out are dif
ficult to observe without careful consideration. But they are there, and
specification of these means will be a valuable contribution to linguistic
science.
B. PUBLICISTIC STYLE
The p u b l i c i s t i'c s t y t e of language became discernible as a sepa
rate style in the middle of the 18th century. It also falls into three va
rieties, each having its own distinctive features. Unlike other styles, the
publicistic style has a spoken variety, namely, the r a t or i a I s u b
s t y l e . The development of radio and television has' brought into being
another new spoken variety, namely, the r a d i o and TV m m e tit a r y. The other two substyles are the e s s a y (moral, philosophical, lit
erary) and j o u r n a l i s t i c a r t i c l e s (political, social, economic) in
newspapers, journals and magazines. Book reviews in journals, newspapers
and magazines and also pamphlets are generally included among essays.
The general aim of publicistic style, which makes it stand out as
a separate style, is to exert a constant and deep influence-on public opin
ion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given
by the writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to
accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article not
merely through logical argumentation but through emotional appeal as
well. This brain-washing function is most effective in oratory, for here
the most powerful instrument of persuasion, the human voice, is brought
into play.
Due to its characteristic combination of logical argumentation and
emotional appeal, publicistic style has features in common with the style
of scientific prose, on the one hand, and that of emotive prose, on the
other. Its coherent and logical syntactical structure, with an expanded
system of connectives' and its careful paragraphing, makes it similar to
scientific prose. Its emotional appeal is generally achieved by the use
of words with emotive meaning, the use of imagery and other stylistic
devices as in emotive prose; but the stylistic devices used in publicistic
style are not fresh or genuine. The individual element essential to the
belles-lettres style *is, a sa rule, little in evidence here. This is in keeping
with the general character of the style.
The manner of presenting ideas, however, brings this style closer to
that of belles-lettres, in this case to emotive prose, as it is to a certain
extent individual. Naturally, of course, essays and speeches have greater
individuality than newspaper or magazine articles where the individual
element is generally toned down and limited by the requirements of
the style.
287

Further, publicistic style is characterized by brevity of expression.

In some varieties of this style it becomes a leading feature, an important
linguistic means. In essays brevity sometimes becomes epigrammatic.
1.

ORATORY

AND

SPEECHES

T h e o r a t o r i c a l s t y I e oi language is the oral subdivision

of the publicistic style. It has already been pointed out that persuasion
is the most obvious purpose of oratory.
Oratorical speech, writes A. Potebnya, seeks not only to
secure the understanding and digesting of the idea, but also serves
simultaneously as a spring setting off a mood (which is the aim)
that may lead to action, 1
Direct contact with the listeners permits a combination of the syn
tactical, lexical and phonetic peculiarities of both the written and spoken
varieties-of language. In its leading features, however, oratorical style
belongs to the written variety of language, though it is modified by the
oral form of the utterance and the use of gestures. Certain typical fea
tures of the spoken variety of speech present in this style are: direct ad
dress to the audience (ladies and gentlemen, honourable member(s),
the use of the 2nd person pronoun you, etc.), sometimes contractions
(/*//, won*t, haven*t, isn*t and others) and the use of colloquial words.
This style is evident in speeches on political and social problems
of the day, in orations and addresses on solemn occasions, as public
weddings, funerals and jubilees, in sermons and debates and also in the
speeches of counsel and judges in courts of law.
Political speeches fail into two categories: parliamentary debates,
and speeches at rallies, congresses, meetings and election campaigns.
Sermons deal mostly with religious subjects, ethics and morality;
sometimes nowadays they take up social and political problems as well.
Orations on solemn public occasions are typical specimens of this
style and ndt a few of their word sequences and phrases are ready-made
phrases or cliches.
The sphere of application of oratory is confined to an appeal to an
audience and therefore crucial issues in such spheres as science, art,
literature, or business relations are not touched upon except perhaps
by allusion, If such problems are dealt with in oratorical style the ef
fect is humorous. The following extract from Posthumous Papers of the
Pickwick Club by Charles Dickens is a parody of an oration.
But I trust, Sir, said Pott, that I .have never abused
the enormous power I wield. I trust, Sir, that I have never point
ed the noble instrument which is placed in my hands, against
the sacred bosom of private life, of the tender breast of Individual
reputation; I trust, Sir, that I have devoted my energies to to
endeavourshumble they may be, humble I know they are to
instil those principles ofwhich are
1 A . A, Op. cit., p. 4.
288

 Here the editor of the EatonstpiU Gazette appearing to ram

ble, Mr. Pickwick came to his relief, and said Certainly,
The stylistic devices employed in oratorical style are determined by
the conditions of communication. If the desire of the speaker is to rouse
the audience and to keep it in suspense, he will use various traditional
stylistic devices. But undue prominence given to the form may lead to
an exaggerated use of these devices, to embellishment.
Tradition is very powerful in oratorical style and the 16th century
rhetorical principles laid down by Thomas Wilson in his Arte of Rhetorique are sometimes still used in modern oratory, though, on the
whole, modern oratory tends to lower its key more and more, confining
itself to a quiet business-like exposition of ideas. Stylistic devices are
closely interwoven and mutually complementary thus building up an
intricate pattern. For example, antithesis is framed by parallel construc
tions, which, in their turn, are accompanied by repetition, while climax
can be formed by repetitions of different kinds.
As the audience rely only on memory, the speaker often resorts to
repetitions to enable his listeners to follow him and retain the main
points of his speech. Repetition is also resorted to in order to convince
the audience, to add weight to the speakers opinion.
The following extract from the speech of the American Confederate
general, A. P. Hill, on the ending of the Civil War in the U.S.A. is
an example of anaphoric repetition:
/ 1 is high time this people had recovered from the passion5
of war. I t is high time that counsel were taken from statesmen,
not demagogues... I t is high time the people of the North and
the South understood each other and adopted means to inspire
confidence in each other.
Further, anadiplosis is used:
The South will not secede again. That was her great folly
folly against her own interest, not wrong against you.
A mere repetition of the same idea and in the same linguistic form
may bore the audience and destroy the speaker-audience contact, there
fore synonymic phrase repetition is used instead, thus filling up the
speech with details and embellishing it, as in this excerpt from a speech
on Robert Burns:
For Burns exalted our race, he hallowed Scotland and the
Scottish tongue. Before his time we had for a long period been
scarcely recognized; we had been falling out of the recollection of
the world. From the time of the Union of the Crowns, and still
more from the legislative union, Scotland had lapsed Into obscuri
ty. Except for an occasional riot or a Jacobite rising, her exist
ence was almost forgotten
Here synonymic phrase repetition (been scarcely recggnized,
'falling out of th e recollection of the w orld, had lapsed into obscurity,
her existence was almost forgotten) is coupled with climax.
289

Repetition can be regarded as the most typical stylistic device of

English oratorical style. Almost any piece of oratory will have parallel
constructions, antithesis, suspense, climax, rhetorical questions and
questions-in-the-narrative. It will be no exaggeration to say that almost
all the typical syntactical stylistic devices can be found in English ora
tory. Questions are most frequent because they promote closer contact
with the audience. The change of intonation breaks the monotony of the
intonation pattern and revives the attention of the listeners.
The desire of the speaker to convince and to rouse his audience re
sults in the use of simile and metaphor, but these are generally traditio
nal ones, as fresh and genuine stylistic devices may divert the attention
of the listeners away from the main point of the speech. Besides, unex
pected and original images are more difficult to grasp and the process takes
time. If a genuine metaphor is used by an orator, it is usually a sustained
one, as a series of related images is easier to grasp and facilitates the
conception of facts identified one with another.
Alltisions in oratorical style depend on the content of the speech and
the level of the audience.
Special obligatory forms open up and end an oration, e.g. M y Lords;
Mr. President; Mr. Chairman; Your Worship; Ladies and Gentlemen,
etc. At the end of his speech the speaker usually thanks the audience
for their attention by saying: Thank you or Thank you very much. Ex
pressions of direct address may be repeated in the course of the speech
and can be expressed differently: dear friends, my friends, Mark you\,
Mirtdl
Here is a sample of the speech made by a member of the House of
Commons in Parliament in April 1956 when the problem of air pollution
was discussed. It is an ordinary speech almost devoid of any signs of
elevation so typical when the orator tries to convince the audience,
There has been a tremendous change in the Ministers attitude
since the Bill was first brought to the House. When w^ embarked
upon the Committee stage we were begging for bread and he gave
us a stone. Now, seemingly, when we are coming to the end of
the feast he is putting many sweets in front of us. The Minister
hopes that Wfe shall accept this proposal without too critical an
examination. While welcoming the Ministers proposals about
the Clean Air Council up to a point, there should be no interference
with the councils accountability to Parliament because the
chairman of the council will be the Minister.
When the hon. Member for Kidderminster (Mr. Nabarro) intro
duced a Private Bill, the Minister consulted at great length
with interested bodies, and particularly, with local authorities.
It is within my knowledge that during those consultations sugges
tions were made to him by people who had practical experience,
Those suggestions have not been accepted and woven into the
Bill. I do not want the Clean Air Council to become a kind of
smokescreen behind which the Minister makes a report to his
own liking and which may contain views at variance with those
of members of the council.
290

I t is essential, if the council is to be effective, that it includes

people who are interested and who have the knowledge and who have
undertaken the scientific research involved. It must be remembered
th at they will have a great deal more knowledge of the subject
th an will the chairman of the council. They will, therefore, have
a to tally different point of view about what is happening in the
country than will the Minister. We should provide th at we have
the uncompromising opinions of th e members of the council,
including those members appointed t o 'i t because of their know
ledge of the problems of various localities.
A nother point w ith which I want to deal was touched upon
by the hon. Member for Kidderminster. During the Committee
stage we debated at great length the topic of research into noxious
fumes, especially sulphuric oxides. We especially pleaded th at
th e Clean Air Council should have co-ordinating powers so th at
it could co-ordinate the activities of bodies conducting research
into problems of oxides and noxious fumes. Indeed, we thought
th at the M inisters opinion upon th at subject was the same as
ours. As the Bill is now drafted, certain powers are given to local
authorities to contribute towards the cost of investigation and
research into the pollution of the air.
We know th a t scientific and technical institutes and the fuel
technology sections of some universities are conducting research
into the problem of sulphuric pollution; yet we do not -see any
power *given to the Clean Air Council to deal with the problem
of sulphuric oxides, even though sulphuric pollution is one of
th e worst forms of air pollution. W ill the Minister give us an as
surance th at he will specially direct the attention of the Clean
Air Council to its duties in co-ordinating research into the prob
lem of sulphuric oxides? W ill he at the same tim e look again at
th e problem of Parliam entary accountability to make it possible
for the council to give an annual report to the House, irrespec
tiv e of the opinions of the M inister?
The ornam ental elements in this speech are reduced to the minimum.
It is a m atter-of-fact speech where no high-flown words or elaborate sty
listic devices are to be found.
It will be of considerable interest to compare this speech to Byrons
Maiden Speech in the House of Lords in defence of the Luddites, which
can be regarded as a perfect specimen of oratorical style. Byron used
his eloquence against the Bill providing capital punishment for the de
struction of machines. His purpose was to prevent the passage of the Bill,
to get an im partial exam ination of the facts.
B yrons speech is rich in oratorical devices, All these devices are
m otivated, they are organically connected w ith the utterance: the form
by no means dom inates the content.
In contradistinction, an exam ination of the following speech will
show th at it is practically devoid of meaning. The speaker is merely
seeking an effect.
291

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is indeed a greatand undeserved privilege to address such
an audience as I see before me. A t no previous tim e in the history
of human civilization have greater problems confronted and chal
lenged the ingenuity of m ans intellect than now. Let us look
around us. W hat do we see on the horizon? W hat forces are at
work? W hither are we drifting? Under what mist of clouds does
the future stand obscured?
My friends, casting aside the raim ent of all human speech,
the crucial test for the solution of all these intricate problem s to
which I have just alluded is the sheer and forceful application
of those immutable laws which down the corridor of Time have
always guided the hand of man, groping, as it were, for some
faint beacon light for his hopes and aspirations. W ithout these
great vital principles we are but puppets responding to whim and
fancy, failing entirely to grasp the hidden meaning of it all. We
m ust re-address ourselves to these questions which press for
answer and solution. The issues cannot be avoided. There they
stand. It is upon you, and you, and yet even upon me, th at the
yoke of responsibility falls.
W hat, then, is our duty? Shall we continue to drift? No!
W ith all the emphasis of my being I hurl back the message No!
Drifting must stop. We must press onward and upward toward
the ultim ate goal to which all must aspire.
But I cannot conclude my remarks, dear friends, w ithout
touching briefly upon a subject which I know is steeped in your
very consciousness. I refer to th a t spirit which gleams from the
eyes of a new-born babe, that anim ates the toiling masses, th at
sways all the hosts of hum anity past and present. W ithout this
energizing principle all commerce, trade and industry are hushed
and will perish from this earth as surely as the crimsori sunset
follows the golden sunshine.
Mark you, I do not seek to unduly alarm or distress the mothers,
fathers, sons and daughters gathered before me in this vast as
semblage, but I would indeed be recreant to a high resolve which
I made as a youth if I did not at this tim e and in this place, and
w ith the full realizing sense of responsibility which I assume,
publicly declare and affirm my dedication and my consecration
to the eternal principles and receipts of simple, ordinary, com
monplace justice." 1
The proper evaluation of this speech should be: Words, words,
words. The whole speech is made to hide the fact that the speaker has
no thought. Questions remain unanswered, climaxes are hot m otivated.
What is the subject th at cannot be left untouched? This is really a
masterpiece of eloquent emptiness and verbosity.
1 The example is borrowed from Altick, R , D. Preface to Critical Reading. Holt,
N . Y., 1956, pp. V IIV III.

292

2. THE ESSAY

As a separate form of English literature the essay dates from the

close of the 16th century. The nam e appears to have become common
on the publication of M ontaignes Essays, a literary form created by
this French w riter. The essay is a literary composition of moderate length
on philosophical, social, aesthetic or literary subjects. It never goes deep
into the subject, but merely touches upon the surface. Personality in
the treatm ent of theme and naturalness of expression are two of the most
obvious characteristics of the essay. A n e s s a y is rather a series of
personal and w itty comments than a finished argument or a conclusive
exam ination of any m atter. This literary genre has definite linguistic
traits which shape it as a variety of publicistic style. Here is a part of
an essay by Ben Jonson which illustrates this style in its most typical
and original form as it was at the end of the 16th century:
"Language most shows a man; speak, that I may see thee.
It springs out of the most retired and inmost parts of us, and is the
image of the parent of it, the mind. No glass renders a mans form
or likeness so true, as his speech. Nay, it is likened to a man; and
as we consider feature and composition in a man, so words in
language; in the greatness, aptness, sound, structure, and harmony
of it. Some men are tall and big, so some language is high and
great. Then the words are chosen, the sound ample, the composi
tion full, the absolution plenteous, and poured out, all grace,
sinewy and strong. Some are little and dwarfs; so of speech, it is
hum ble and low; the words are poor and flat; the members are
periods thin and weak, without knitting or number. The middle
are of just stature. There the language is plain and pleasing;
even without stopping, round without swelling; all well turned,
composed, eloquent, and accurate. The vicious language is vast
and gaping; swelling and irregular; when it contends, high, full
of rock, m ountain and pointedness; as it affects to be low it is
abject and creeps, full of bogs and holes.
The essay was very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the
17th century essays were w ritten on topics connected w ith morals and
ethics, while those of the 18th century focussed attention on political and
philosophical problems.
The 18th century'w as the great age of essay writing. It was then the
principal literary form, and discoursed on the im portant subjects of
the day, often criticizing the shortcomings of the political and social
system in England. "Encyclopedia B ritannica states that the essay be
came a dom inant force in English literature of the 18th century. The fol
lowing statem ent of an 18th century essayist is of some interest as it
describes the character of the essay: We writers of essays or (as they are
termed) periodical papers... This statem ent shows that periodical
papers ah th at time contained only essays.
In the I9th century the essay as a literary term gradually changed
into what we now call the journalistic article or feature article which
293

covers all kinds of subjects from politics, philosophy or aesthetics to

travel, sport and fashions. Feature articles are generally published in
newspapers, especially weeklies and Sunday editions. They are often
written by one and the same writer or journalist, who has cultivated his
own individual style.
The most characteristic language features of the essay, however,
remain 1) brevity of expression, reaching in good writers a degree of
epigrammaticalness, 2) the use of the first person singular, which jus
tifies a personal approach to the problems treated, 3) a rather expanded
use of connectives, which facilitate the process of grasping the correla
tion of ideas, 4) the abundant use of emotive words, 5) the use of similes
and sustained metaphors as one o f'th e media for the cognitive process.
It is in the interrelation of these constituents that the real secret of the
essay substyle consists.
Some essays, depending on th e w riters individuality, are w ritten
in a highly emotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose,
others resemble scientific prose, and the term s r e v i e w , m e m o i r or
i r e a t i s e are more applicable to certain more exhaustive studies. *
The essay on moral and philosophical topics in modern times has not
been so popular, perhaps because a deeper scientific analysis and inter
pretation of facts is required. The essay in our days is often biographical;
persons, facts and events are taken from life. These essays differ from
those of previous centuries their vocabulary is sim pler and so is their
logical structure and argumentation. B ut they still retain all the lead
ing features of the publicistic style.
In comparison w ith oratorical style, the essay aims at a more lasting,
hence, at a slower effect. Epigrams, paradoxes and aphorisms are com
paratively rare in oratory, as they require the concentrated attention of
the listener. In the essay they are commoner, for the reader has opportu
nity to make a careful and detailed study both of the content of the u t
terance and its form.
The close resemblance in structure between the essay and the oration
has more than once been emphasized by linguists. The m ain difference
between them is very well summarized by H. Robbins and R. Oliver in
their work Developing Ideas into Essays and Speeches.
...an essay is distinguished from a speech prim arily by the
fact that the essay seeks a lasting, the speech an im m ediate effect.
The essay must have a depth of meaning which will repay the
closest analysis and frequent rereading ... the basic requirem ent
of a good speech is that it carry immediately into the m ind of its
hearer precisely the point which the speaker wishes to make.*
Therefore writers say t h a t "... the speaker is allowed much more leeway
in sentence structure than the w riter.*
1 For an example of a bibliographical essay see M acaulays essay on Oliver Gold
smith.
8 H. Robbins and R . Oliver. Developing Ideas into Essays and Speeches. Longmans
Green and Co, N.Y,, 1943, p. 143.
* Ibid., p. 144.

294

In summing up the characteristics of the essay it will not come amiss

to give the following epigram m atic definition:
The Essay is not a treatise. It is not Euclid, it is flash-light.
It is not proof, it is representation. It is a chat; the key-note to
the essay is its personality.
3. JOURNALISTIC ARTICLES

Irrespective of the character of the magazine and the divergence of

subject m atter whether it is political, literary, popular-scientific or
satirical, all the already mentioned features of publicistic style are to
be found in any article. The character of the magazine as well as the sub
ject chosen affects the choice and use of stylistic devices. Words of emo
tive meaning, for example, are few, if any, in popular scientific articles.
Their exposition is more consistent and the system of connectives more
expanded than, say, in a satirical article.
The language of political magazine articles differs little from that
of newspaper articles as described in the chapter on Newspaper Style
(see bejow). But such elements of publicistic style as rare and bookish
words, neologisms (which sometimes require explanation in the text),
traditional word-combi nations and parenthesis are m ore'frequent here
than in newspaper articles.
In an article dealing w ith what were forthcoming presidential elections
in the USA, which it is impossible to quote here because of its length,
we find such bookish and high flown words as ambivalent; exhilarated,
appat led, etc. Its argum entation and emotional, appeal is achieved by
em phatic constructions of different kinds: how dim the outlook lor
victory was, Stevenson is anything but an irresponsible m an, it could
well have been, though..., he is at once exhilarated and appalled.
Humorous effect is produced by the use of words and phrases which nor
m ally are out of the range of this sort of article: melancholy, graciously,
extending his best wishes, and by periphrases.
L iterary reviews stand closer to essays both by their content and by
their linguistic form. More abstract words of logical meaning are used
in them, they often resort to emotional language and less frequently to
traditional set expressions.
C. NEWSPAPER STYLE
Newspaper
s t y l e was the last of all the styles of written
literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing
apart from other forms.
English newspaper w riting dates from the 17th century. At the close
of the 16th century short news pamphlets began to appear. Any such
publication either presented news from only one source or dealt with
one specific subject. Note the titles of some of the earliest news pamph
lets: Newe newes, containing a short rehearsal of Stukelys and ices
Rebellion (1579), Newes from Spain and H olland (1593), Wonderful
295

and strange newes out of Suffolke and Essex, where it rayned wheat the
space of six or seven miles" (1583), News pam phlets appeared only from
time to time and cannot be classed as newspapers, though they were
unauestionably the immediate forerunners of the B ritish press.
The first of any regular series of English newspapers was the Weekly
News which first appeared on May 23, 1622. It lasted for some twenty
years till in 1641 it ceased publication. The 17th century saw the rise
of a number of other news sheets which, with varying success, struggled
on in the teeth of discouragement and restrictions imposed by the Crown,
With the introduction of a strict licensing system many such sheets
were suppressed, and the Government, in its turn, set before the public
a paper of its own The London Gazette, first published on February 5,
1666. The paper was a semi-weekly and carried official Information, royal
decrees, news from abroad, and advertisements.
t h e first English daily newspaper the Daily Courant was brought
out on March II, 1702, The paper carried news, largely foreign, and no
comment, the latter being against the principles of the publisher, as
was stated in the first issue of his paper. Thus the early English newspa
per was principally a vehicle of information. Commentary as a regular
feature found its way into the newspapers later. But as far back as the
middle of the 18th century the British newspaper was very much like
what it is today, carrying on its pages news, both foreign and domestic,
advertisements, announcements and articles containing comments.
The rise of the American newspaper, which was brought onto Ameri
can soil by British settlers, dates back to the late 17th, early 18th cen
turies.
It took the English newspaper more than a century to establish a
style and a standard of its own. And it is only by the I9th century that
newspaper English may be said to have developed into a system of lan
guage media, forming a separate functional style.
The specific conditions of newspaper publication, the restrictions
of time and space, have left an indelible mark on newspaper English.
For more than a century writers and linguists have been vigorously
attacking the slipshod construction and the vulgar vocabulary" of news
paper English. The very term n e w s p a p e r E n g l i s h carried
a shade of disparagement. Yet, for ail the defects of newspaper English,
serious though they may be, this form of the English literary language
cannot be reduced as some purists have claimed merely to careless
slovenly writing or to a distorted literary English. This is one of the
forms of the English literary language characterized as any other
s ty le by a definite communicative aim and its own system of language
means.
Not all the printed m atter found in newspapers comes under newspa
per style. The modern newspaper carries m aterial of an extremely di
verse character. On the pages of a newspaper one finds not only news and
comment on it, press reports and articles, advertisements and announce
ments, but also stories and poems, crossword puzzles, chess problems
and the like. Since the latter serve the purpose of entertaining the reader,
they cannot be considered specimens of newspaper style. It is newspaper
296

printed m atter th at performs th e function of informing the reader and

providing him w ith an evaluation of the information published that
can be regarded as belonging to newspaper style.
Thus, English newspaper style may be defined as a system of inter
related lexical, phraseological and gramm atical means which is per
ceived by the community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the
purpose of informing and instructing the reader.
Inform ation and evaluation co-exist in the modern English news
paper, and it is only in terms of diachrony that the function of informa
tio n can claim priority. In fact, all kinds of newspaper writing are to a
greater or lesser degree both inform ative and evaluative. But, of course,
it is obvious th at in most of the basic newspaper genres" one of the two
functions prevails; thus, for example, news of all kinds is essentially
informative, whereas the editorial is basically evaluative.
Information in the English newspaper is conveyed, in the first place,
through the medium of:
1 ) brief news items,
2) press reports (parliam entary, of court proceedings, etc!),
3) articles purely informational in character,
4) advertisem ents and announcements.
The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on political
and other m atters. Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very
selection and way of presentation of news, in the use of specific vocabula
ry, such as allege and claim, casting some doubt on the facts reported,
and syntactic constructions indicating a lack of assurance on the part of
th e reporter as to the correctness of the facts reported or his desire to
avoid responsibility (for example, 'Mr. X was said to have opposed the
proposal'; Mr. X was quoted assaying...'). The headlines of news items*
apart from giving inform ation about the subject-m atter, also carry a con
siderable amount of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline,
th e use of em otionally coloured words and elements of emotive syntax),
thus indicating the interpretation of the facts in the news item that fol
lows. B ut, of course* the principal vehicle of interpretation and apprah
sal is the newspaper article, and the editorial in particular. Editorials
(leading articles or leaders) are characterized by a subjective handling
of facts, political or otherwise. They have much in common w ith classi
cal specimens of publicistic w riting and are often looked upon as such.
However, newspaper evaluative w riting unm istakably bears the stamp
of newspaper style. Thus, it sesms natural to regard newspaper articles,
editorials included, as coming w ithin the system of English newspaper
style. B ut it should be noted that while editorials and other arti
cles in opinion columns are predom inantly evaluative, newspaper feature
articles, as a rule, carry a considerable amount of information, and the
ratio of the inform ative and the evaluative varies substantially from ar
ticle to article.
To understand the language .peculiarities of English newspaper style
it will be sufficient to analyse the following basic newspaper fea
tures;
1) brief news Items,
297

2 ) advertisem ents and announcem ents,

3) the headline,
4) the editorial.
1. B R IE F NEW S ITEMS

The principal function of a b r i e f p. e w s i t e m is to inform the

reader. It states facts w ithout giving exptfcft com m ents, and w hatever
evalution there is in news paragraphs is for the most p art im p licit and
as a rule unem otional. News items are essentially rriatter-of-fact, and
stereotyped forms of expression prevail. As an in v aria n t, the language
of brief items is sty listically neutral, which seems to be in keeping
w ith th e allegedly n eutral and unbiased n atu re of newspaper reporting;
in practice, however, departures from this principle of sty listic n e u tra l
ity (especially in the so-called mass papers") are quite common.
1' It goes w ithout saying th a t the bulk of the vocabulary used in news
paper w riting is n eutral and common literary. But ap art from this, news
paper style has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by
an extensive use of:
1 a) Special political and economic term s, e. g. Socialism , constitution,
president, apartheid, by-election. General Assembly, gross o utput, per
capita production.
I b) Non-term political vocabulary, e. g. public, people, progressive,
nation-wide, u n ity, peace. A ch aracteristic feature of political vocabulary
is th a t the border line between term s and non-term s is less distinct than
in th e vocabulary of other special fields. The sem antic structure of some
words comprises both term s and non-term s, e. g. nation, crisis, agreement,
member, representative, leader.
fc) Newspaper cliches, i. e. stereotyped expressions, com m onplace
phrases fam iliar to th e reader, e. g. vita l issue, pressing problem, informed
sources, danger o f war to escalate a war, war hysteria, overwhelming m a
jo rity, amid stormy applause. Cliches more th an anything else reflect the
trad itio n al m anner of expression in new spaper w riting. They are com
monly looked upon as a defect of style. Indeed, some cliches, especially
those based on trite images (e. g. captains of industry, pilla rs o f society,
bulwark o f civilization) are pom pous and hackneyed, others, such as
welfare stale, a fflu e n t society, are false and m isleading. But nevertheless,
cliches are indispensable in newspaper style: they prom pt the necessary
associations and prevent am biguity and m isunderstanding.
I d) A bbreviations. News item s, press reports and headlines abound
in' abbreviations of various kinds. Am ong them abbreviated term s
nam es of organizations, public and state bodies, political associations,
industrial and other com panies, various offices, e tc .known by their
in itials are very common, e. g. UNO ( U nited Nations'; Organization),
TUC (Trades U nion Congress), NATO (N orth A tla n tic T reaty Organiza
tion), AFL-CIO (A m erican F ederation of Eabour-Congress of In d u strial
Organizations), EEC (European Econom ic C om m unity), TGWU (Trans
port and General W orkers Union), FO (Foreign Office), P IB (Prices and
Incom es Eoard).

298

^e) Neologisms. These are very common in new spaper vocabulary.

The new spaper is very quick to react to any new developm ent in the life
of society, in science and technology. Hence, neologisms m ake their
way into the language of the new spaper very easily and often even spring
up on newspaper pages, e. g. lunar rover (a vehicle for exploratory travel
on the lunar surface), sing-in (a musical act or event in which th e audience
serves as a chorus or joins in the singing), overkill (the a b ility to anni
h ilate an enemy or objective several tim es over), ice-up (the freezing
over snow or w ater).
The above-listed peculiarities of brief news items are the basic vo
cabulary param eters of English new spaper style.
The vocabulary of brief news items is for the most p art devoid of
em otional colouring. Some papers, however, especially those classed
am ong mass or popular papers, tend to introduce em otionally col
oured lexical u n its into essentially m atter-of-fact news stories, e. g.
Jew el thieves set up shop yesterday and grabbed gems valued
at 200 000. (M o rn in g S ta r)
The wife of actor S tratford Jo h n s . . . told last night how armed
police swooped on their home after a m ix-up over a gun. (N ew s o f the
World)
Mr. N asty caused a stin k at the Post Office. (Sunday M irror)
Im p o rtan t as vocabulary is, it is not so much the words and phrases
used in brief news item s th at distinguish them from other forms of news
paper w riting. The vocabulary groups listed above are also commonly
found in headlines and new spaper articles. The basic peculiarities of
news item s lie in their syntactical structure.
As the reporter is obliged to be brief, he n atu ra lly tries to cram all
his facts into th e space allotted. This tendency predeterm ines the pecu
liar com position of brief news item s and the syntactical stru ctu re of the
sentences. The size of brief news item s varies from one sentence to sev
eral (short) paragraphs. And generally, the shorter the news item , the
more com plex its sy ntactical structure.
f t The follow ing gram m atical peculiarities of brief news item s are of
param ount im portance, and m ay be regarded as their gram m atical p ara
meters.
|a ) Complex sentences with a developed system of clauses, e. g.

A Tory M P last night hit out at a Commons report which suggested

there m ay be serious social unrest in Wales because o f heavy unemploy
m ent. (N ew s o f the W orld)
There are indications that BO AC m ay withdraw threats o f all-out
dism issals for p ilo ts who restrict fly in g hours, a spokesm an for the
B ritish A irline P ilo ts association said yesterday. (M o rn in g S ta r)
2'J')

]b) Verbal constructions (infinitive, p artic ip ial, gerundial) and verbal

noun constructions, e. g.
Unions representing engineering and technical workers a t B rit
ish Leyland yesterday treatened industrial acton to h a lt the planned
axing of over 4,000 w hite collar jobs. (M o rn in g S ta r )
jc) Syntactical complexes, especially the nom inative w ith the infin
itive. These constructions are largely used to avoid m entioning the
source of inform ation or to shun responsibility for the facts reported,
e- gA large chunk of ice, believed to have fallen from an aircraft,
crashed through the roof, then through the bedroom ceiling of a house
in Leam ington, W arw ickshire, yesterday. (D a ily Express)
\ d) Attributive noun groups are another powerful m eans of effecting
brev ity in news item s, e. g. heart swap p a tie n t (M o rn in g S ta r ) , the
national income and expenditure figures (T he T im es), Labour backbench
decision (M o rn in g S ta r ).
V e) Specific word-order. Newspaper trad itio n , coupled w ith the rigid
rules of sentence stru ctu re in English, has greatly affected the word-order
of brief news item s. The word-order in one-sentence news paragraphs
and in what are called leads (the in itia l sentences in longer news items)
is more or less fixed. Jo u rn a listic practice has developed w hat is called
the five-w -and-h-pattern rule (who-whal-why-hcw-ULhere-when) and for
a long tim e strictly adhered to it. In term s of gram m ar this fixed sentence
stru ctu re m ay be expressed in the following m anner: SubjectP redicate
(-j-Object)A dverbial m odifier of reason (m anner)A dverbial m odifier
of placeA dverbial m odifier of tim e, e. g.
A neighbours peep through a letter box lead to the finding of
a woman dead from gas and two others sem iconscious in a block of
council flats in Eccles New R oad, Salford, Lancs., yesterday. (T he
Guardian )
I It has been repeatedly claim ed by the authors of m anuals of jo u r
n alistic w riting th at the five-w-and-h stru ctu re was the only right
pattern of sentence stru ctu re to use in news reports. Facts, however,
disprove this contention. S ta tistics show th a t there are approxim ately
as m any cases in which the trad itio n al word-order is violated as those
in which it is observed. It is now obvious th a t the new spaper has devel
oped new sentence p attern s not typical of other styles. This observation
refers, firstly , to th e position of the adverbial m odifier of definite time.
Com pare another p attern typical of brief new's sentence structure:
M ystery last n ight surrounded the w-hereabouts of a girl uho
m ay newer know how rich she could be. (Sunday M irror)
300

B righton council yesterday approved a 22,500 scheme to have

parking m eters operating in the centre of the town by M arch. ( The
Times)
This and some other unconventional sentence p attern s have become
a common practice w ith brief news w riters.
There are some other, though less m arked, tendencies in news item
w ritin g of m odifying w ell-established gram m atical norms. M ention should
be made of occasional disregard for the sequence of tenses rule, e. g.
The com m itteewhich was investigating the working of the
1969 C hildren and Young Persons A ct said th a t some school chil
dren in rem and centres are g ettin g only two hours lessons a day.
(M o rn in g S ta r )
W hat is o rd in arily looked upon as a violation of gram m ar rules in
any other kind of w ritin g appears to be a functional pecu liarity of news
paper style.
ffif~2(A D V E R T lSEM EN T S AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

A dvertisem ents m ade their way into the B ritish press at an early
stage of its developm ent, i. e. in the m id-17th century. So they are al
most as old as newspapers them selves.
The principal function of a d v e r t i s e m e n t s
a t i A e--------n o u n c e m e n t s. like th at of brief news, is to inform t bp rp;)rW There
are two basic types of advertisem ents and announcem ents in the modern
Endfish newspaper: 'c lassified an d n o n -classified .
In classified advertisem ents and announcem ents various kinds of
inform ation are arranged according to subject-m atter into sections, each
bearing an ap p ropriate nam e. In The Tim es, for exam ple, the reader
never fails to find several hundred advertisem ents and announcem ents
classified into groups, such as B IR T H S, M ARRIAGES, D EA TH S, IN
MEMORIAM, BUSINESS O FFE R S, PERSO N A L, etc. This classified
arrangem ent has resulted in a num ber of-stereotyped pattern s regularly
em ployed in newspaper advertising. N ote one of the accepted patterns
of classified advertisem ents and announcem ents in The Times:
BIRTHS
CULHANE. On November 1st, at St. B artholom ew s H ospital, to BARBARA
and JO H N CULHANE a son.

All announcem ents in the B irth section are built on ex actly the
same elliptical p attern . This tendency to elim inate from the sentence
all elem ents th a t can be done w ithout is a pronounced one in adver
tisem ent and announcem ent w riting. The e llip tic sentence structure
has no sty listic function; it is purely technical to economize space,
expensive in w hat newspaper men call the advertising hole. Though
of course, having become a common practice, this peculiar brevity of
expression is a sty listic feature of advertisem ents and announcem ents
which m ay take a variety of forms, for example:
301

TRA IN E D N URSE w ith child 2 years seeks post London preferred. W rite Box
C. 658, The Tim es, E . C. 4.

H ere the absence of all articles and some punctuation m arks makes
the statem ent telegram -like. Sentences which are gram m atically com plete
also tend to be short and com pact.
The vocabulary of classified advertisem ents and announcem ents
is on th e whole essentially neutral w ith here and there a sprinkling of~~
em otionally coloured words or phrases used to a ttra c t the read ers a t
tention. N atu rally , it is advertisem ents and announcem ents in the
PERSONAL section th at are som etimes characterized by em otional
colouring, for exam ple:
R O B U ST , frien d ly stu d e n t, not en tirely u n in te llig e n t, seeks C h ristm as v acatio n job.
No wife, w ill travel, walk, ride or drive and undertake any domestic, agricultural
or industrial activity. W ill bidders for this curiously normal chap please w rite Box C.
552, The Tim es, E. C- 4.

E m otional colouring is generally m oderate, though editors seem to

place no restrictions on it. See the following announcem ent in the P E R
SONAL section of The Times:
A lleluia! I m a mum.
(A jocular m odification of the chorus of th e well-known American song A lleluia,
I m a bum . A young woman is statin g th a t she has become a m other.)

As for the non-classified advertisem ents and announcem ents, the

variety of language form and subject-m atter is so great th a t hardly
any essential features common to all m ay be pointed out. The re ad ers
atten tio n is a ttra c te d by every possible'm eans: typographicalV graphical
and stylistic, both lexical and sy ntactical. H ere there is no caliTor brev
ity, as the advertiser may buy as much space as he chooses.
The following are the initial lines of a full-page advertisem ent of
Barclays Bank carried by an issue of The Guardian:
W H AT W E W ANT
A b anks business is w ith other peoples money, so vre w ant people whose integ
rity is beyond question. Money is a very personal business, so we w ant people who
like people. B anking is work th at calls for accuracy, so we w ant people who can work
accurately. Our staff has to have in tegrity, personality, accuracy. We w ant them to
have im agination too.
I, 3. THE HEADLINE

The h e a d l i n e (the title given to a news item or an article) is a

dependent form of newspaper w riting. It is in fact a p art of a larger whole.
specific functional and linguistic tra its of the headline provide suf
ficient ground for isolating and analysing it as a specific genre of
journalism . The m ain function of the headline is to inform the reader _
briefly of w hat tire tex t th at follows is about. But ap art from this, head
lines often contain elem ents of appraisal, i. e. they show the rpporters or the p ap e rs a ttitu d e to the facts reported or com m ented on, thus also
perform ing the function of instructing ihe reader. English headlines are
302

short and catching, they com pact the gist of news stories into a few
eye-snaring words. A skilfully turned headline tells a story, or enough
of it, to arouse or satisfy the readers curiosity . 1 In some English and
A m erican newspapers sensational headlines are quite common.
The practices of headline w riting are different w ith different new spa
pers. In m any papers there is, as a rule, but one headline to a news item ,
whereas such papers as The Times, The Guardian, The New Y ork Times
often carry a news item or an article w ith two or three headlines, and
som etimes as m any as four, e. g.

BRITAIN ALMOST CUT IN H A LF

Many Vehicles Marooned in Blizzard
(T h e G uardian)

NEW YORK REACHES PACT WITH 25 UNIONS

2 RAISES OF 8/0 EACH
Settlement With Coalition
of 200,000 Employees
Is Arrived Early
(T h e N ew Y o rk T im e s)

FIRE FORCES AIRLINER TO TURN BACK

Cabin Filled With Smoke
Safe Landing For 97 P assengers
A tlan tic D ram a In Super VC 10

(T h e T im es)
Such group headlines are alm ost a sum m ary of the inform ation con
tained in th e news item or article.
The functions and the peculiar n ature of English headlines predeter
m ine the choice of the language m eans used. The vocabulary groups
1 Bastion, George C. Editing the D ays News. N. Y ., 1956, p. 62.
303

considered in the analysis of brief news item s are commonly found in

headlines: B ut headlines also abound in em otionall) coloured words and
phrases, as th e italicised words in the following:
End this Bloodbath (M orning S ta r)
M ilk M adness (M o rn in g S ta r )
Tax agent a cheat (D a ily World)
No W onder Housewives are Pleading: H E L P ' (D a ily M irro r)
Rom an C atholic P riest sacked ( M orning S ta r )
F urtherm ore, to a ttra c t the read ers a tten tio n , headline w riters often
resort to a deliberate- breaking-up of set expressions, in particu lar fused
set expressions, and deform ation of special term s, a sty listic device
capable of producing a strong em otional effect, e. g.
Cakes and B itte r Ale (T he S unday Tim es)
C onspirator-in-chief S till at Large (T he Guardian)
Com pare respectively the allusive set expression cakes and ale, and
the term commander-in-chief.
O ther sty listic devices are not infrequent in headlines, as for exam ple,
the pun (e. g. A nd what about W a tt' The Observer), allite ratio n (e.g.
M iller in M aniac M ood The Observer), etc.
S y n t a c t i c a l l y headlines are very short sentences or phrases of a varie ty of patterns^
, ,
\ a) Full declarative sentences, e.g. They Threw Bombs on G ipsy S ites
(M o rn in g S ta r ) , A llies Now Look to London '(T h e Tim es)
(b) Interrogative sentences, e.g. Do you love w ar? (D a ily W orld),
W jll C eltic confound p u n d its? ( M orning S ta r )
(c) N o m inative sentences, e.g. G loom y S unday (T h e G uardian),
A tlan tic Sea T raffic (T he Tim es), U nion peace plan for G irling stew
ard s (M o rn in g S ta r )
^ d) Elliptical sentences: a I i T / v w r
a. w ith an au x iliary verb
om itted, e.g. In itial report not expected
u n til J u n e ! (T h e Guardian), Yachtsman spotted' (M o rn in g S t a r ) -,
b. w ith th e subject om itted, e.g. W ill w in (M o rn in g S t a r ) -,
c. w ith the subject and p art of the predicate om itted, e.g. Off to the
su n (M o rn in g S ta r ), S till in danger (The Guardian)
f e) Sentences with articles omitted, e.g. S tep to O verall Settlem ent
C ited in T ext of Agreem ent' (In tern a tio n a l Herald T rib u n e), Blaze
kills 15 at P a rty ' (M o rn in g S ta r )
A rticles are very frequently om itted in all types of headlines.
f f) Phrases with verbals infinitive, p articip ial and geru n d ial, e.g.
To get US a id (M o rn in g S ta r ), Keeping Prices Down (The T im es),
P reparing rep ly on cold w ar (M orning S ta r ) , S p ea k in g p a rts (T he
Sun d a y Times)
) g ) Questions in the form of statements, e.g. The worse the b etter?
(D a ily W orld), Growl now, sm ile later? (T he Observer)
J h) Complex sentences, e.g. Senate P anel H ears Boartd of M ilitary
E xperts Who Favoured Losing B idder (T he New York T im es), Army
Says It Gave LSD to Unknown G Is (In tern a tio n a l H erald Tribune)

J) Headlines including direct speech:

a. introduced by a full sentence, e.g. Fam ous MP a d m its My nam e
was w ritten down in Old B ailey case (D aily M a il), Tell M argaret I
love h er he said and then he died. (Sunday Express)\
b. introduced ellip tically , e.g. The Queen: My deep distress
(T he G uardian), New ra te support system best in EuropeM inister
(The G uardian).
The above-listed p atterns are the most ty p ical, although they do not
cover all the v ariety in headline structure.
The headline in B ritish and Am erican newspapers is an im portant
vehicle both of inform ation and ap praisal; editors give it special a tte n
tion, a d m ittin g th a t few read beyond the headline, or at best the lead.
To lure the reader into going through the whole of the item or a t least a
greater p art of it, takes a lot of skill and ingenuity on the part of the
headline w riter.
1

4. THE EDITORIAL

Tile function of the editorial is to influence the r e a d e r hv g i v i n g an

in terp retatio n of certain facts. E d ito rials com m ent on t he political and
other events of the day. Their purpose is to give the e d ito rs opinion and
interp retatio n of Tlimnews -p-ublisheehaTrcFsuggest lo tlle"re"ader th a t it
is the correct one. Like any ev alu ativ e w riting 7~ edttoriais-appeal n o t
only to the reader s m ind but to his feelings as well. Hence the use of
em otionally coloured language elem ents, both lexical and structural.
H ere are examples:
The long-suffering B ritish housewife needs a bottomless purse
to cope w ith this scale of in flatio n . (D a ily M irror)
B ut since they came into power the trend has been up, up, up and
the pace seems to be accelerating. (D a ily M a il).
In ad d itio n to vocabulary typical of brief news item s, w riters of edi
torials m ake an extensive use of em otionally coloured vocabulary. A long
side political words and expressions, term s, cliches and abbreviations
one can find colloquial words and expressions, slang, and professionalism s.
The language of editorial articles is characterized by a com bination of
different s tra ta of vocabulary, which enhances the em otional effect, for
exam ple:
FAT GIFTS FOR SOME

TH E TOPMOST boss of the giant B ank O rganisation, S ir John

D avis, has sacked th e lesser boss Mr. Graham Dow son, who gets
150 000 from the com panys till as com pensation for loss of office.
W ere there screams of agony in the ca p ita list press or from the
Tories about the size of this golden handshake? There w'ere not.
F at gifts are the usual thing when big bosses go. The bigger and
richer they are, the fatter the cheques. (M o rn in g S ta r )
1 2376

305

LOCAL BLOODSUCKERS

Local G overnm ent was once dull. B ut loom ing for ratepayers
this spring are ra te increases of an average of 25 per cent, outside
London and above 60 per cent, w ithin it. These follow last years
stratospheric increases. Alas, if rapacious dem ands of this kind can
emerge from them , w'hat goes on in B rita in s town halls cannot be so
tedious. C haotic, frightening, scandalous, yes; dull, no. . . . ( The
D a ily Telegraph)
The above quoted exam ples from English newspaper editorials abound
in em otionally coloured vocabulary units. Along w ith neutral and lit
erary (common and special) vocabulary one can find words w ith em otive
colouring: topmost, g ia n t, screams of agony (1), scandalous, frightening,
rapacious, alas (2); colloquial vocabulary units: to sack, fa t (1 ), instances
of linguistic imagery: this golden hundshuke (1 ), stratospheric increases
(2), etc. All these lexical m eans are highly em otive and thouroughly eval
uative.
E m otional colouring in editorial articles in achieved w ith the help
of various sty listic devices, both lexical and sy n tactical, the use of which
is largely trad itio n al. E d ito rials abound in trite sty listic means, espec
ially m etaphors and epithets, e.g. international climate, a price explosion,
a price spiral, a spectacular sight, an outrageous act, brutal rule, an as
tounding statem ent, crazy policies. T raditional periphrases are also very
common in new spaper editorials, such as W all S treet (American financial
circles), D owning S tre e t (the B ritish G overnm ent), Fleet S treet (the Lon
don press), the Great Powers (the five or six biggest and strongest states),
the third world (states other than socialist or cap italist), and so on.
Most trite sty listic means commonly used in the newspaper have
become cliches.
B ut genuine sty listic m eans are also som etimes used, which helps
th e w riter of the ed ito rial to bring his idea home to the reader through
th e associations th a t genuine imagery arouses. P ractically any stylistic
device may be found in editorial w riting, and when a p tly used, such de
vices prove to be a powerful means of appraisal, of expressing a personal
a ttitu d e to th e m atter in hand, of exercising the necessary em otional
effect on the reader. N ote the following exam ple:
T hat this huge slice of industry should become a battleground
in which public cash is used as a whip w ith which to lash workers
is a scandal. . . .
Yet it is the w'orkers u'ho are being served up as the lambs fo r sac
rifice, and it is public money th a t is used to stoke the fires of the
sacrificial pyre. (M o rn in g S ta r)
The sty listic effect of these sustained sim iles is essentially satirical.
A sim ilar effect is frequently achieved by the use of m etaphor, irony,
th e treak in g -u p of set expressions, the sty listic use of w ord-building,
by using allusions, etc. Two types of allusions can be distinguished in
newspaper article w riting: a. allusions to political and other facts of
'h e day which are indispensable and have no sty listic value, and b. his306

torical, literary and biblical allusions which are often used to create a
specific sty listic effect, largelysatirical. The em otional force of ex
pression in th e editorial is often enhanced by the use of various syntac
tical sty listic devices. Some editorials abound in parallel constructions,
various types of rep etitio n , rhetorical questions and other syntactical
sty listic means.
Y et, the role of expressive language m eans and sty listic devices in
the ed ito rial should not be over estim ated. They stand ou t against the
essen tially n eutral background. And w hatever sty listic devices one comes
across in edito rials, they are for the most part trite. B roadly speaking,
trad itio n reigns suprem e in the language of the newspaper. O riginal forms
of expression and fresh genuine sty listic m eans are com paratively rare
in newspaper articles, editorials included.
However, although all editorials, as a specific genre of newspaper
w ritin g , have common distinguishing features, the editorials in different
papers v ary in degree of em otional colouring and sty listic o rig in ality
of expression. W hile th ese,q u alities are typical enough of the popular
newspapers (those w ith large circulations), such as the D a ily M irror
and the D a ily M a il, the so-called q u ality papers", as The Tim es and The
Guardian, m ake ra th e r a sparing use of the expressive and sty listic means
of the language. W hatever sty listic gems one m ay encounter in the
new spaper, they cannot obscure the essentially trad itio n al m ode of
expression ch aracteristic of newspaper English.
^

Lr i !
D. SCIENTIFIC PROSE STYLE
The / a n g a g e

of

science

is governed bv

of t be

m ent relatio n s b ^ y e m d jjf e r e n t p h en o m en^^ejtc^T heJanguage means v

used, fnerefofe, tenu ^ o n e o b j e c t i v e , ^ fc m se , unem otional, devoid of I
any in d iv id u ality ; there is a striv in g for the most generalized foim of J
expression. d j t n d e
The proper medium of scientific expression, w rites E. S apir,
is therefore a generalized language th at may be defined as a sym bolic
U ^ W lg e b r a of which all known languages are translations. O ne can ade
q u ately tran slate scientific lite ratu re because the original scientific
expression is itself a tran slatio n . J
lnolcafion of heir
an exaggeration to
i "Y c'LUiiJ>n no th e r functional style do we find such a developed and
V*y v a f f e u ^ sislem
te m of connectives as in scientific prose.
nrose.
'
A second and no less im portant feature, and perhaps the m ost con
spicuous, is th e is.e f t e r m s specific to each given branch
of
science. It will be wise to sta te in- passing th at due to the ra p id dis-

i sem ination of scientific and technical ideas, p articu larly in what are
called th e exact sciences, we m ay observe the process of dc-ierininization,
th a t is, some scientific and technical term s begin to circulate outside
the narrow field they belong to and eventually begin to develop new m ean
ings. B ut the overw helm ing m ajority of t^rm s do not undergo this
process of de-term inization and rem ain the pr iperty of scientific prose.
There they are born, m ay develop new term inological meanings, and there
they die. No other field of hum an ac tiv ity is so | rolific in coining new
words as science is. The necessity to penetrate deeper into the essence of
things and phenom ena gives rise to new concepts, whmb require new
words to nam e them . As has already been pointed Ptriy &
make
more direct reference to som ething than a descriptive
a nonterm . Hence th e rapid creation of new term s in any ejpvefopmg science.
F u rth er, the general vocabulary em ployed in s u e n tu ic voe bears
its direct referential m eaning, th a t is, words used in scLentLlJc prose
will alw ays tend to .be used in their p rim arv Jo g ic al meaning. H ardly
a single word will be found here which, in contrast to the belles-lettres
style, is used in more than one m eaning. Nor will there be any words
w ith contextual m eaning. Even the possibility .of am biguity is avoided.
Furtherm ore, term s are coined so as to be self-explanatory to the greatest
possible degree. B ut in spite of this a new term in scientific prose is gen
erally followed (or preceded) .by an explanation.1 Likewise, neutral and common literary words used in scientific prose
will be explained, even if their m eaning is only sligh tly m odified, either
in th e context (by a parenthesis or an a ttrib u tiv e phrase) or in a
feot-note.
/ In modern scientific prose an interesting phenomenon can be ob
served the exchange of_ter$is_hctw een various branches of science.
\ This is ev idently due to the''in terp en etratio n of scientinc ideas. Selfs ,sufficiency in any branch of science is now a th in g of the past. C ollab
o ra tio n of specialists in related sciences has proved successful in
m any fields. The exchange of term inology m ay therefore be regarded
as a n atu ral'o V tco m e of this collaboration. M athem atics has p rio rity
in th is respect. M athem atical term s have left their own dom ain and
-------------travel freely in other sciences, including linguistics.
A third characteristic feature of scientific stvle is w hat we m ay call
\ s e n t e n c e - p a t t e r n s . They are of three types: *p s t ui N/ a t r y, a r g u m e n b a t i v
u I a t i v e. A hypothJ esis, a scientific conjecture or a fo re c a s im u s fu e based on facts already
knowm, on facts system atized and defined. Therefore, every p iece of s c i
en tific p rose^will begin w ith postu latorv nronnimrf-m
w hich are ta*"ken a s ^ c l I-^^k ^ern a nd ,needmg no proCn \ refeN rkeLro these facts is
only p re lim in a ry .^ T ljp e x p o s itio n of the w riters ideas and is therefore
summed up in (^episely form ulated statem ents accom panied, ifYonsidered
necessary, by rm e r e fr a ^ to sources.
The w riters own ideas are also shaped in form ulae, which are the
enunciation of a doctrine or theory, of a principle, an argum ent, the re
sult of an investigation, etc. The definition sentenre-pattern in a scientific utterance^ th a t is, the sentence wliich 41111s lip the argum ent, is
30rf
-f

generally a kind of clincher sentence. Thus, in his L inguistics and Style

N ils E ric E n k v ist concludes one of his argum ents in th e following words:
T h e stu d y of features not sta ta b le in term s of contextual pro b ab il
ities of linguistic items, style m arkers, sty listic sets and shifts of s ty h
is not the task of stylistics but of other levels of linguistic or literary
an a ly sis. 1
fourth observable feature of the style of modern scientific prose,
an (Tone th a t strikes the eye ot the read er,1 is the use of q u o t a 1 1 6 n s
t f a r e f e r e n c e s . These som etim es occupy as much as half a page. 2
The references also have a definite com positional n ajternj^nam ely, the
nam e of the w riter referred to, the title of the work^quorea. publishing
house, the place and year it was published, and the page of the excerpt
quoted or referred to.
, A fifth feature of scientific style, which maJ49s . i t distinguishable
from other s
t
y
l
e
s
0 t e s, riot of the r e f - j .,
erence kind, butc?r?<ff r e ^ s r v e i / c c h a r a c t e r . This is in fu ll^L
accord w ith the m ain requirem ent of the sty le , which is logical coherence
of ideas expressed. A nything th a t seems to violate this requirem ent or
seems not to be im m ediately relevant to the m atter in hand, but at the
same tim e m ay serve indirectly to back up the idea, will be placed in a
foot-note.
The i m p e r s o n a l i t y of scientific w ritings can also be considered
a ty p ical feature of th is stvle. This q u ality is m ainly revealed in the fre
quent use of passive constructions. 3 Scientific experim ents are generally
described in the passive voice, for exam ple, Then acid tm s taken, instead
of / (we) then took acid.
A correspondent of the Tim es L iterary Supplem ent says th a t to w rite
I weighed 10 gram s of aspirin and dissolved them in as little water
as / could' would be deplorable in a research paper. The desirable
plain scientific statem ent, he m aintains, would be Ten gram s of
aspirin were dissolved in a m inim um volume of w ater.
Another correspondent objects to this mode of expression and
says:
The terrible th ing about th a t second sentence is th at its infection
has spread in all its falsity beyond research into politics, religicn,
public statem ents, film scripts, journalism . It creates the bureaucratic
impression th a t things were done and th at nobody did them . 4
L eaving aside this unreasonable protest against the established and
w idely recognized m odels of scientific syntax, we m ust agree th a t an
over-use of the passive, p articu larly in other styles, will create the sen1 Enkvist, Nils Eric. L inguistics and Style. Oxford, 1967.
- In some specimens of scientific prose the references are placed at the back of the
book and shaped as an appendix. In th a t case reference num bers will be found in the
body of the book.
3 See also Chatman, Seymour. S t\listic s, Q u an titativ e and Q u alitativ e. Style ,
v. I, 1967, No. 1, p. 38.
4 Nevi York Tim es London L iterary L etter.

*09

(1

tentious voice of boreaom as the w riter p u ts it. And his statem ent, 4
pen was n o t filled ^with ink this m orning, but I filled m y pen, wdll certain
ly be m oreiappropriate in ordinary language. B ut this is not a valid argu
m ent against using such co n stru ctio n ^ in scientifi pro
In connection w ith the general im(WKonal tone ot expression, it
should be noted th a t im personal passive constructions are frequently
used w ith th e verbs suppose, assume, presume, conclude, infer, p o in t out,
etc., as in: It should be pointed o u t, It must no t be assum ed, It m ust
be em phasized, It can be inferred, etc.
There is a noticeable difference in the syntactical design of ntier in th e exact science's (mathem atics; chem istry, physics, etc.)
in th e hum anities. The passive constructions frequently used in
fR FscIenfific prose ot the exact sciences are not indispensable in the hu
m anities. This, perhaps, is due to the fact th a t the d ata and m ethods
of in v estigation applied in the hum anities are less objective. The ne
cessity to quote passages under observation an d to am plify argum ents
seriously affects sy n tactical patterns. In the hum anities some seemingly
w-ell-known pronouncem ent m ay be and often is subjected to re-evaluation,
whereas in th e exact sciences much can be accepted w ithout question
and therefore needs no comment.
H ere are two sam ples of scientific prose, one from a linguistic paper
^ and th e other from a textbook on chem istry.
The critical lite ratu re on K eats Ode on a G recian U rn is enor
mous, and much of it is extrem ely penetrating. It m ay therefore come
as a surprise to m aintain th a t there are several points in the poem which
are in need of further classification, and th a t to do so m ay give us not
only better knowledge of the poem, but hypothesis about m ethod which
can* be tested elsewhere.
The criticism s fall into three m ain groups; those th at take up some
quite m inor blemishes', or possible blem ishes, in the Ode; a very large
group th a t discusses at great length the equation between T ruth and
BeaUty; and a sm all group which gives extended, line-by-line discus
sion. It is one of th is la tte r group which alone takes up the difficulty
involved in lines 28 and 29, in the possible u n certain ty in the reference
of T hat leaves a heart high sorrow ful, 1
H ere is the second sam ple:
351. Sulphur Trioxide SO, It is very easy to decompose sul
phurous acid into the anhydride and w ater. G entle heating will effect
it, and indeed, if the solution be strong, the decomposition is sponta
neous. Sulphurous acid always sm ells of sulphur dioxide. The decom
position of sulphuric acid into w ater and sulphur ti ioxide cannot be
effected by any such sim ple means. The trioxide is m ade directly by
inducing SO to com bine w ith more oxygen. There is alw ays a slight
tendency for SO, to pass into S 0 3 in the presence of oxygen, but the
process is too slow to be of much interest. The gases can, however, be
1 H ill, Archibald G. Some P oints in the A nalysis of K eats Ode on a Grecian Urn in Essays in L iterary Analysis. A ustin, Texas, 1900.
310

m ade to react much more ra p id ly by the use of a s u ita b le cataly tic

agent, the best known being p latin u m , and as the effect of th e platinum
depends upon its surface area it is necessary to arrange for this to be
as great as possible. If a piece of asbestos fibre is steeped in a solution
of p latinum chloride in hydrochloric acid and then heated, the asbes
tos becomes coated w ith a thin grey coating of spongy platinum .
In this w ay p latin ised asbestos is produced. If now a m ix tu re of
sulphur dioxide and oxygen is passed over heated p la tin ise d asbestos,
the dioxide is converted into the trioxide, thus:
2 S 0 2+ 0 = 2 S 0 3
The ap p aratu s is qu ite sim ple and is shown in
sulphur trioxide which comes off is condensed
m ixture into colourless ice-like needles. If this
access to m oisture, it undergoes some sort of
turn s to a w hite silky crystalline so lid . 1

fig. 35. The vapour of

by m eans of a freezing
can be sto red , w ithout
m olecular change and

ie rem arkable difference between thp ^w o^sa/ip^e^lies in the fact

he second one requires a far greater am ount of prelim inary knowledge
th an th e first one. A lthough both sam ples are im personal in form , they
nevertheless differ in th e am ount of ob jectiv ity , the first being less objec
tiv e in statin g data. F u rth er, in the first excerpt views and opinions are
expressed. In the second none are given. In both 'sam ples th e syntax
is governed by logical reasoning, and there are no em otional elem ents
w hatsoever.
,
f However, em otiveness is not en tirejv or categorically excluded from
scientific prose. There m ay be hypofnl^es,J^pronouncem ents and con
clusions which, being backed up by strong belief, therefore call for the
use of some em otionally coloured words. Our em otional react.ion to facts
and ideas may bear valuMfte^ffTSrmation, as it itself sjiflfigf^oK f fn e inner
qualities of these facts and ideas. We depend in no sm all degree upon our
em otional reactions for knowledge of the outer world.____________ _
An interesting investigation was made- by N. M. K azinkina In to
th e em otive character of scientific prose of the 19th century. In some
articles published in N ature, a journal which m ade its first appearance
in 1869, there were m any em otional words used, evidently com pensating
for lack of evidence and argum ented facts. It was norm al in the discussion
on m any fundam ental problem s to use such words as marvellous, wonder
fu l, monstrous, magnificent., b rillia n t and the like to a ttem p t proof of a
hvoothesis or a pronouncem ent. Irr modern scientific prose such em otional
wodds are very seldom used. A tTeast they are no t constituents of modern
scientific style. Nor can we find eifiotional structures or sty listic devices
which aim at rousing aesthetic feelings.
In 21, 1968 there was an interesting series
of articles on the language of science en title d On Science and its L an
guage. The discussion em anated from m any com plaints reaching the p a
per th at the language of much scientific w riting is unintelligible to ordi
n ary people u n in itiate d in the principles of the given science. All the par1 H . A . Wootton and C. IT. R . Hooker. A Text Book on Chemistry.
311

ticip an ts in the discussion agreed th a t science m ust have its own lan
guage (that is, its own vocabulary) and th at the exposition of new ideas
in science must rest on a very solid foundation of previously acquired
knowledge. B ut w hat they actu ally m eant was not only the knowledge
of th e term inology of the given science, but also an im m ediate recogni
tion of technicalities in the tex t, which predeterm ines understanding.
These pre-requisites are confined exclusively to the lexical aspect of the
language. So it is not the language itself th at is special, but certain words
or their sym bols. This, perhaps, explains the fact th a t those who know
the technical nom enclature of a given science can read and understand
scientific texts in a foreign language even w ith a poor knowledge of its
gram m atical structure.
The characteristic features enum erated above do not cover all the
peculiarities of scientific prose, but they are the most essential ones.
E. THE STYLE OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
There is one more style of language w ithin the field of standard lit
erary English which has become singled ou t, and th a t is the s t y l e
o f o f f i c i a l d o c u m e n t s , or officialese, as it is som etim es
called. As has already been pointed out, th is FS is not homogeneous and
is represented by the follow ing'^ubstyles or variants: CCf 1) the language of business docum ents,
"
I 2) the language of legal docum ents, 1
3) th at of diplom acy, w ji, lo
4) th at of m ilitary documents.
Like other styles of language, this style h a |-a ^lefip(te comm..unicative
aim and, accordingly, has its own system of interrelated language and
r sty listic m eans.^Jjie J jj^ n ^ im of this type of com m unication is to s t a t e 'l l
^ the conditions bind
, n tte s m an undertak in g . These parties m ay
be: the~state citizen, o r'citiz en ^ an d citizeii; a society and its
members (statute or ordinance); two or m ore'enterpnses or bodies (busi
ness co rresp o n d ce > contracts); tw o or more governm ents (pacts, tre a t
ies); a person in a u th o rity and a subordinate (orders, regulations, in
structions, a u th o rita tiv e directives); a board or presidium and an assem
bly or general m eeting (procedures acts, m inutes), etc.
The aim of com m unication in this sty lejrf language is to reach agreeinent betw een. tw o contractin g parties. Even protest against violations
~cA statu tes, contracts, rJgulafions,~etc., can also be regarded as a form
by which norm al cooperation is sought on the basis of previously a t
tained concordance.
This most general function of the style of official docum ents p ren eter-f
"Vj m ines th e jje c u lia n fic of the style. The most striking, though no t th e
m osFTssential feature, is a special system of cliches, term s and set ex/ JprSsTons by w h ich e ach su b stle can easily be recogmzeHTlor exam ple:
ff , I beg to inform you, I beg to m o v e fl second the motion, provisional agenda,
. t / 1 the above-mentioned, hereinafternamed, on behalf of, private advisory, D ear
*
S ir , We remain, your obedient servants.
312

In fact, each of the subdivisions of this style has its own peculiar
term s, phrases and expressions which differ from the corresponding term s,
phrases and expressions of other varian ts of this style. Thus in finance
we find term s like extra rtocnue^ taxable capacities, lia b ility to 'fro f i t tax.
Terms and phrases like'/u'g/i contracting parties, to r at i f y an agreement,
memorandum, pact, Charge d'affaires, protectorate, extra-territorial status,
plenipotentiary will im m ediately brand the utterance as diplom atic.
In legal language, exam ples are: to deal w ith a case-, sum m ary procedure;
a body o f judges; as laid down in.
Likewise, other varieties-of official language have their special no
m enclature, which is conspicuous in the text and therefore easily discern
ible as belonging to the official language style.
Besides th e special nom enclature ch aracteristic of each variety of
th e style, there is a feature common to all these varieties -th e use of
abbreviations, conventional sym bols and
lor exam ple:
m Tp7~(/M em ber of P arliam en t), Gvt {gove/nm en/), H. M. S.
(Hi s M ajesty s S team ship), $ (dollar), (pound). L td (Li mi fed).
There are so m any of them th a t there are special addendas in diction
aries to decode them .
This ch aracteristic feature was used by Dickens in his Posthum ous
Papers of th e Pickw ick Club; for instance,
P .V .P ., M .P.C. (P erpetual Pice P resident, M em ber Pickw ick
Club); G.C.M .P.C. (General C hairm an, M em ber Pickw ick Club).
A bbreviations are p articu larly abundant in m ilitary documents.
Here they are used not only as conventional sym bols but as signs of the
m ilitary code, which is supposed to be known only to the in itiated . Exain-

les are:
,Vi* *

If

D.A.O. (D ivisional A m m unition Officer); adv. (advance); a Ik

(attack); obj. (object); A /T (anti-tank); ATAS (Air T ransport A uxiliary
Service).

A nother feature of the style is the use of words in their logical dictio ary moan: >. "Just asrin the other m atter-ot-tact styles, and in con
trast intrinsically* to the belles-lettres style, there is no room for
contextual m eanings or for any kind of sim ultaneous realization of two
meanings. In m ilitary docum ents som etim es m etaphorical nam es are
given to m ountains, rivers, hills or villages, but these m etaphors are
n jlfl perceived as code signs and have no aesthetic value, as in:
2. 102 d. Inf. Div. continues a tk 26 Feb. 45 to captive objs Spruce
Peach and Cherry and prepares to take over objs P lum and A pple
after capture by CCB, 5th arm d D iv.
W ords w ith em otive m eaning are not to be found in the sty le of official
docum ents either. Even in the style of scientific prose some words may
be found which reveal the a ttitu d e of the w riter, his individual evalua
tion of th e facts and events of th e issue. B ut no ^uch words are to be

313

found in official style, except those which are used in business letters
as conventional phrases of greeting or close, as Dear S ir , yours fa ith fu lly.
As in all other functional styles, the distin ctiv e properties appear
jjs a system . W e cannot single out a style by its vocabulary only, recogntnizable though it alw ays is. The syntactical jm tte n i of the style is as
n>j| sig n ific a n t as the vocabulary^ though perhipS So" immediaTeTy'
j / parent.

'
P e rh a p sthe most noticeable of all syntactical features are the com^
positional patterns of the variants of this style, t hus, business letters* have a definite com positional pattern , nam ely, the heading giving the
address of the w riter, the date, the nam e oj the addressee and his
address.
H ere is a sam ple of a business letter:
S m ith and Sons
25 M ain Street
M anchester
9th February, 1977
Mr. John Sm ith
29 Cran bourn S treet
London
Dear Sir,
We beg to inform you th a t by order and for account of Mr. J u lia n
of Leeds, we have taken the liberty of draw ing upon you for 25 at
three m onths date to the order of Mr. S harp. W e gladly take this
op p o rtu n ity of placing our services at your disposal, and shall be
pleased if you frequently m ake use of them .
R espectfully yours,
S m ith and Sons
by Jane Crawford.
There is every reason to believe th a t m any of the em otional words
and phrases in present-day com m ercial correspondence which are not
m erely conventional sym bols of polite address, did re ta in their em otive
m eaning at earlier stages in the developm ent of this variety of official
language. H ere is an interesting sam ple of a business letter dated J u n e 5,
1655.
Mr. G. D ury to S ecretary Tharloe,
R ight H onorable,
The Com m issary of Sweden, Mr. B orm el, doth most hum bly in
trea t your honour to be pleased to procure him his audience from his
highnesse as soon as conveniently it m ay be. H e desires, th a t the same
be w ithout much cerem ony, an d by way of p riv ate audience. I hum bly
subscribe myself
Your H onour's most hum ble and
obedient servant,
G. D ury.
Ju n e, 5, 1655.

314

Such words and word-conibinations as most h u m b ly , in tre a t

(entreat), I hum bly subscribe, most hum ble and obedient serv an t
and the like are too insistently repeated not to produce the desired im
pression of hum bleness so necessary for one who asks for a favour.
A lm ost every official docum ent has its own com positional design.
.Pacts a h ci statu tes, orders and Tninutes, notes and m em orandaa ll
have more or less definite forms,, and it w ill not b e a n exaggeraTion
to sta te th at the torm ot tne docum ent is itself inform ative, inasm uch
as it tells som ething about the m atter dealt w ith (a letter, an agreem ent,
an order, etc).
In this respect we shall quote the P ream ble of the C harter of the
U nited N ations which clearly illu strates the most peculiar form of the
arrangem ent of an official docum ent of agreem ent.
C H A R T E R OF T H E U N I T E D N A T I O N S 1
We the Peop es of the United Nations Determined
TO SAVE succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which
twice in our lifetim e has brought untold sorrow to m ankind, and
TO R E A F F IR M faith in fundam ental rights, in the dignity and worth
of the hum an person, in the equal rights of men and women and of
n atio n s large and sm all, and
TO ESTA B LISH conditions under which ju stice and respect for the
obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international
law can be m aintained, and
TO PROM OTE social progress and better standards of life in larger
freedom ,
And For These Ends
TO PRACTICE tolerance and live together in peace w ith one another
as good neighbours, and
TO U N IT E our strength to m ain tain international peace and security,
and
TO E N SU R E , by the acceptance of principles and the institution
of m ethods, th a t arm ed force shall not be used, save in the com
mon interest, and
TO EM PLOY international m achinery for the prom otion of the eco
nom ic and social advancem ent of all peoples,
Have Resolved to Combine Our Efforts to Accomplish These Aims.
Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives
assembled in the C ity of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full
pow'ers found to -be in good and due form, have agreed to the present
C harter of the U n ited N ations and do hereby establish an international
organization to be known as the U nited N ations.
As is seen, all the reasons which led to the decision of settin g up an
international organization are expressed in one sentence w ith parallel
1 The Random H ouse D iction ary of the English Language. N. Y ., 1967, p. 1941.
315

infinitive object clauses. Each infinitive object clause is fram ed as a

separate paragraph th u s enabling the reader to attach equal im portance
to each of the item s m entioned. The separate sentences shaped as clauses
are n atu rally divided not by full stops but either by commas or by
semicolons.
It is also an established custom /to divide separate utterances by
num bers, m aintaining, however, the pFmcTple of dependence of all the
statem ents on th e m ain part of the utterance. Thus, in chapter I of the
U. N. C harter the purposes and principles of the charter are given in a
num ber of predicatives, all expressed in in fin itiv e constructions and num
bered:
C H A P T E R I
P U R P O S E S AND P R IN C IP L E S
The Purposes of the U nited N ations are:
1. TO M AINTAIN international peace and security, and to th at
end: to tak e effective collective measures for the prevention and re
moval of th reats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of ag
gression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful
m eans, and in conform ity w ith the principles of ju stice and in tern a tio n
al law, adjustm ent or settlem ent of international disputes or situ a
tions which m ight lead to a breach of the peace.
2. TO D EV ELO P friendly relations am ong nations based on res
pect for the principle of equal rights and self-determ ination of peo
ples, and to take other appropriate m easures to strengthen universal
peace.
3. TO A CH IEV E international cooperation on solving in tern a
tional problem s of an economic, social, cu ltu ral, or hum anitarian
character and in prom oting and encouraging respect for hum an rights
and for fundam ental freedoms for all w ithout distinction as to race,
sex, language, or religion; and
4. TO BE A C EN TR E for harm onizing the actions of nations
in the attain m en t of these common ends.
H ere is another sam ple of an official docum ent m aintaining the same
principles:
U nited N atio n s Econom ic
and Social C ouncil

D istr. L im ited
R TAC/L. 89 R ev. 2
29 N ov. 1955.
O rig in a l: E n g lish

Technical A ssistance Com m ittee

E xpanded Program m e of Technical A ssistance
Review of the Program m e for 1956
A ustralia and Egypt: revised draft resolution.
316

The Technical Assistance Committee,

REC ALLING THAT according to Econom ic and Social Council
resolution 542 (X V III) the preparation and review of the Expanded
Program m e and all other necessary steps should be carried out in a
way th a t TAC ought to be in a position to approve the over-all prog
ram m e and authorize allocation to p artic ip a tin g organizations by
30 November at th e latest, C O N SID ER IN G THAT a realistic prog
ram m e such as the E xpanded Program m e cannot be planned and for
m ulated w ithout prior knowledge of the financial resources available
for its im plem entation,
C O N SID E R IN G THAT TAC, w ith the assistance of such ad hoc sub
com m ittees as it may find necessary to establish, will norm ally
need about one week to carry out the task referred to in the resolution
m entioned above, bearing in m ind the necessary consultations w ith
th e representatives of th e p artic ip a tin g organizations,
1. ASKS the Secretary-G eneral to seek to arrange each year th at
the P ledging Conference should be convened as early as possible
tak in g due account of all factors involved;
2. D EC ID E S th at the Secretary-G eneral should in future w'ork on
th e assum ption th at in carrying out the functions of approving the
program m e and authorizing allocations as required by Economic and
Social Council resolution 542 (X V III), the TAC will usually need to
m eet for one week;
3. R EQ U ESTS further the Secretary General to tran sm it this reso
lution to all S tates Members and non-m em bers of the U nited Nations
w'hich p artic ip a te in the E xpanded Program m e.
In no other style of language will such an arrangem ent of utterance
be found. In fact, th e whole docum ent is one sentence from the point
of view of its formal syntactical structure. The subject of the sentence
The Technical A ssistance C om m ittee is followed bv a num ber of p ar
ticip ial constructions R ecalling , C onsidering , C onsidering
.US.c u t off bv comma from them and from t he homogeneous predicates
AsKs7. D ecides, (Requests Everv~~predieate structure is num bered
aHd begins w ith a cap ital letter Lust as th e particip ial constructions.
ih is stfu ctu ra lly illogical way ol com bining different ideas has
its sense. In the tex t ju st quoted the reason for such a stru ctu ral p attern
probably lies in the intention to show the eq u a lity of the ite m s and sim. i1ar dependence of the par t i cipial constructions on the predicate con
stru ctio ns.
In legal E nglish, writes H. W hitehall, ...a significant judgem ent
m ay depend on the exact relations between words. . . .The language of
the law' is w ritten n o t so much to be understood as not to be m isunder
stood. 1
As is seen from the different sam ples above, the over-all code of
the official style falls into a system of subcodes, each characterized
by its owm term inological nom enclature, its own com positional form,
1

W hitehall, H .

Structural E ssentials of English. N . Y ., 1956 p. 64.

317

its own v ariety of sy ntactical arrangem ents. B ut the integrating fea

tures of all these subcodes, em anating frorn the general aim of agreem ent
between parties, rem ain the following:
1) conventionality of expression;
2) absence of any em otiveness;
3) the encoded character of language sym bols (including abbrevia
tions) and
4) a general sy n tactical mode of com bining several pronouncem ents
into one sentence.
SOME NOTES ON THE THEORY AND PROCEDURES
OF STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

This brief o utline of the most characteristic features of the five lan
guage styles and their variants will show th at out of the num ber of fea
tures which are easily discernible in each of the styles, some should be
considered prim ary and others secondary; some obligatory, others option
al; some constant, others transitory. The necessary d ata can be obtained
by means of an objective statistica l count based on a large num ber
of tex ls, but th is task cannot be satisfactorily com pleted w ithout the
use of com puters.
A nother problem facing the stylicist is w hether or not there are sep
arate styles w ithin th e spoken variety of the language, and the analysis
of these styles if it can be proved th at there are any. So far we are of
the opinion th a t styles of language can only be singled out in the w ritten
variety. This can be explained by the fact th a t an y sty le is the result of a
deliberate, careful selection of language m eans which in their correla
tion co n stitu te this style. This can scarcely be atta in e d in the oral va
riety of language which by its very n atu re will not lend itself to careful
selection.
However, there is folklore, which originated as an oral form of com
m unication, and which m ay perhaps be classed as a style of language
w ith its own stru ctu ral and sem antic laws.
* * *
The survey of different functional styles will not be com plete w ithout
at least a cursory look into w hat constitutes the very notion of text as
a production of m ans creative ac tiv ity in the realm of language.
The word te x t, which has im perceptibly crept into common use,
has never been linguistically ascertained. It is so broad in its applica
tion th a t it can refer to a span of u tteran ce consisting of two lines, on the
one hand, and to a whole novel, on the other. Therefore the word needs
specification in order to m ake clear w hat particu lar kind of language
product has the rig h t to be term ed tex t. The student of functional styles
will undoubtedly benefit by looking at the tex t from an angle different
from w hat he has h ith erto been used to. W hen analysing the linguistic
n atu re of a tex t it is first of all necessary to keep in m ind the concept
of perm anence as set against ephem erality. T ext, being the result of lan
guage a c tiv ity , enjoys perm anence inasm uch as it belorgs to the w ritten
v ariety of language.
318

/T e x t cgn be w hat it claim s to be only if no.^es^es tl]e q u a lity of

in tegrity, i.e. wholeness characterized by its gestalt (see p. 30)". In other
words, tex t m ust enjoy a kind of independent existence; it m ust be an
en tity in itself.
The in teg rity of the text presupposes the subordination of certain
p arts to one p articu lar p art which reveals the m ain idea and the pitrpoft
of the w riter. It has already been stated th a t a text consists of units
which we called supra-phrasal (see p. 194). These u n its are not equal in
their significance: some of them bear reference to the m ain idea, others
only back up th e purport of the author. It follows then th a t supra-phrasal
u n its can be classified as predicative and relative. The interrelation be
tween these will show what kind of im portance the au th o r attaches to one
or other p art of th e utterance.
The theory of com m unication has brought about new concepts regard
ing the inform ation im parted by different texts. It will be of use to
distinguish between the following term s: m e a n i n g , s e n s e and c o n
t e n t . We shall reserve the term m eaning for the sem antics of q m or
pheme, a word or of a w ord-com bination. The term signification is here
suggested to refer only to the sentence and supra-phrasal units. The term
content* should be reserved for the inform ation im parted by the whole
of the tex t.
It follows then th at the inform ation contained in a text is its content.
However, th e content is not a m echanical sum m ing up of the significa
tions of the sentences and the supra-phrasal units. Likewise, the signi
fication of a sentence or of a supra-phrasal unit is not a m echanical sum
m ary of m eanings of the constituents, i.e. of the words or word-com binations. The in teg rating power of the text greatly influences the sense
of th e sentences, depriving them of the independence they would enjoy in
isolation. The sam e can be observed in the sentence, where the words to a
greater or lesser degree lose their independence and are subjected to some
tim es alm ost im perceptible sem antic m odifications. To phrase the issue
differently, the content of a text modifies the significations of the sen
tences and the m eanings of the words and phrases. The integrating power
of the tex t is considerable and requires careful observation.
The inform ation conveyed by a tex t m ay be of different kinds; in
p articu lar, two kinds of inform ation m ight be singled out, viz. contentconceptual and content-factual.
Content-conceptual inform ation is th at which reveals the form ation
of notions, ideas or concepts. This kind of inform ation is not confined
to merely im p artin g intelligence, facts (real pr im^gifi^ry), descriptions,
events, proceedings, etc. It is much morq com plicated. Content-concep
tu al inform ation is not always easily discernible. It is som ething th at
may not lie on the surface of its verbal exposition. It can only be grasped
after a m inute exam ination of the constituents of the tex t provided th a t
the reader has acquired the skill of supralinear analysis. Moreover, it
m ay have various interpretations and not infrequently reveals divergent
view's as to its purport.
It follows then th at content-conceptual inform ation is m ainly found
in the belles-lettres language style. H ere it reigns suprem e although it

319

m ay also be encountered in some other functional styles and particu larly

in d iplom atic 'te x ts .
C ontent-factual inform ation is th a t contained in w hat we have a l
ready nam ed m atter-of-fact styles, i.e. in newspaper style, in the texts
of official docum ents and in some others.
The classification of inform ation into content-conceptual and con
tent-factual should not lead to the conclusion th a t tex ts of a scientific
n atu re, for exam ple, are deprived of concepts. The word conceptual has
m ulti-dim ensional param etres, i.e. it can be applied to different phe
nom ena. Scientific treatises and m onographs are undoubtedly character
ized by original concepts, i. e. theories, hypotheses, propositions. B ut
these concepts are ex p licitly form ulated and need no special sty listic
inventory to decode them . W hereas the concepts contained in works of
a rt (to which the functional style of belles-lettres belongs) are to be de
rived from the gestalt of the work. Taken by itself, such a division of in
form ation m ay appear unconvincing, inasm uch as too m any in terp reta
tions of the word conceptual can be suggested. B ut its aim , be it re p eat
ed, is to em phasize the crucial difference between w hat is more or less
clearly stated in verbal chains and w hat is only suggested and therefore
needs m ental effort to get at w hat is said by the unsaid.
In conclusion we suggest the following procedures in sty listic a n a ly
sis which will fa cilitate the process of disclosing the kind of inform ation
contained in the given text.
The first procedure is to ascertain the kind of text being dealt w ith.
This procedure m ay be called the taxonomic stage of analysis. Taxonom y
is the science of classification. It states the principles according to which
objects are classified. There is an im m ediate need to get a clear idea as
to what functional style this or th at tex t belongs. F urtherm ore, the taxonom ical analysis will bring to mind a definite model of a tex t in the
given style. Sometim es it is not enough to state th at the tex t belongs to,
let us say, the style of official docum ents. It is necessary to specify w hat
kind of a docum ent is being analysed. Thus, it is very im portant to find
out w hether the tex t is a m em orandum , or a note or a protest, or a pact,
etc. If the tex t is one th a t belongs to the belles-lettres stvle, it is neces
sary to point out w hat kind of a text it is, viz. a poem (what type), a story,
a novel and further, w ith in it, a d esc rip tio n ,'a p o rtra it, a conversation
(dialogue), the a u th o rs n arrativ e, his speculations, etc.
The second procedure, which m ay be called the content-grasping
stage, aim s at an ap p roxim ate understanding of the content of the given
text. It does not claim to be a com plete and exhaustive penetration into
the hidden purport of the author. The conceptual inform ation will be
disclosed at later stages in the analysis.
However, this superficial grasping of the general content is an im por
tan t stage, it should stand out against a deeper understanding of the i n
form ation the text contains in the broad m eaning of the term .
The third procedure, which m ight,, be called semantic, has as its
purpose the close dbservatiori of the m eanings of separate words and w'ord
com binations as well as of the significations of the various sentences and
supra-phrasal units. This stage of the analysis predeterm ines the lines
320

of further analysis which will reveal the deeper inform ation. In m ain tain
ing this procedure it is v ita lly im portant not to lose sight of the fact
th a t, as has been pointed out before, the m eanings of words and the sig
nifications of th e sentences and SPU s are liable to m odifications u n d er
the in teg ratin g power of the whole of the te x t, its gestalt. It is advisable
a t this stage of analysis to consult dictionaries inasm uch as dictionaries
will show the polysem y of the words, thus enabling the student to d istin
guish a sim ultaneous realization of two or more m eanings of a word in
the sentence.
The fourth procedure, which should be called the sty listic stage, aims
at finding out w hat additional inform ation m ight be im parted by the
au th o rs use of various sty listic devices, by the ju xtaposition of sentences
w ithin a larger fram e of utterance, th a t is, in the SPU , and also by the
interdependence of predicative and re la tiv e SPUs.
The fifth procedure, which conventionally m ight be called the func
tional stage of analysis, brings us back to the second one, i.e. the con
tent-grasping stage. This analysis sets the task of investigating the con
ceptual inform ation contained in the whole of the text. In m aintaining
this stage of, analysis the student should assemble the previously ac
quired d ata ancf m ake a kind of synthesis of all the procedures.
T here is no hierarchy in m aintaining analysis procedures but the
suggested sequence has proved to be the most efficient in gettin g a deeper
insight into w hat constitutes the notion text.
In order to show how these procedures work, each procedure separately
and all of them together, it is advisable to subject th e given below tex t to a
scrupulous sty listic analysis. This, as has been described above, aim s at
disclosing th e content-conceptual inform ation contained in th e tex t.
B ut in order to achieve this aim , i.e. to get a clear idea of w hat the con
tent-conceptual inform ation consists of, it is necessary to come to an
u n d erstan d in g of th e order in which th e factual inform ation of the tex t is
arranged.
In prose th e factual inform ation is more or less coherently exposed,
although th ere are certain kinds of prose where th e factual inform ation
does not follow th e principle of coherence. Moreover, there are kinds of
prose in which th e thread of factual inform ation is broken and a mental
effort on th e part of th e reader is required to assemble the separate parts
in th eir correct relatio n one to another. Also, apart from th e tw o kinds
of inform ation m entioned, there exists a third one which is called
su b lin ear inform ation. This is som etim es referred to as th e hidden
inform ation in th e tex t.
As it is necessary to reveal how th ed iffe ren t procedures aim at disclos
ing th e conceptual inform ation (it would be, in fact, im possible to do so
in a brief o u tlin e of th e way th e procedures work), a very short passage has
been chosen th e first two stanzas of th e poem The R aven by E . A. Poe.
Once upon a m idnight dreary, w hile I pondered, weak and
w eary,
O ver many a q u ain t and curious volum e of forgotten lore
W hile
I nodded,
nearly
napping, suddenly
there came
a tapping,

321

As of some one gently rappingrapping at my chamber door.

Tis some visitor* 1 m uttered, tapping at my chamber
door
O nly this and nothing more.
Ah, d istin ctly I rem em ber, it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon
the floor,
Eagerly I wished the morrow;vainly I had sought
to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrowsorrow for the lost
Lenore
Nameless here for evermore.
According to th e schedule given above we can find in these two
stanzas alm ost everything th a t can be subjected to four of the five pro
cedures, i.e. to th e taxonom ic, content-grasping, sem antic and styl
istic stages of th e analysis. The only procedure which cannot be m ain
tained is th e functional stage because, as has been m entioned, this
stage bringing us back to the second of the indicated positions of
analysis, requires a retrospective stu d y of the conceptual inform ation
f the whole tex t. Here, however, we deal w ith tw o stanzas only, hence
we can b u t guess at th e further factual inform ation the text contains.
And so it will hardly be possible to achieve a synthesis of all the
Procedures.
The taxonom ic procedure ascertains th a t the excerpt under analysis
is poetry. This is due to the arrangem ent of the sentences and phrases,
the com binations of the words, the rhym ing scheme and the rh y th m
which we can quite easily discern from reading. These and some other
features of poetry are described in the body of the book where we deal
with th e style of poetry.
We give only a most general description of the taxonom ic aspect of
the above stanzas. It ought to be deeper because this stage of analysis
manifests itself in various forms, varied com positional designs and in
many pragm atic functions.
There are various com positional designs of stanzas, metres, lines.
In th e poem chosen for analysis the lines are alm ost all equal in length
and present a definite scheme th a t can easily be drawn by scanning.
Thus we state th a t in each line there are 16 syllables and in each line
the stress is placed on the first, th ird , fifth syllable and so on, i.e. on
the odd one. The even syllables are unstressed, for example: Once
upon a m idnight d re ary ... So this is trochaic octom eter w ith a pecul
iar rhym ing scheme: In th e first line, Once upon a m idnight dreary
when I pondered weak and w eary... there is inner rhym e. Inner
rhym e again appears in the th ird line. This system of rhym ing becomes
P articularly clear a little further.
As to th e second procedure, nam ed th e content-grasping stage, it
a ims at disclosing the factual inform ation contained in the stanzas.
The content may be given in a few words: a sad m elancholy man is
sittin g alone in his cham ber reading and th in k in g of his lost beloved,
vainly try in g to lind consolation in books. This is clear even from a

322

cursory reading. T hat is all we can in fer from this stage of th e analysis.
The most relevant procedure o f investigation, which discloses
th e inner relations between the facts expressed and the content-con
ceptual inform ation, is the sem antic stage. It presupposes a detailed
analysis of the m eaning of words, w ord-com binations, sentences, and
even of larger u n its such as whole stan zas. To show how th is may be
done, we must analyse nearly every word separately. For instance,
if we tak e the first two lines:
Once upon a m idnight dreary, w hile I pondered, weak
and w eary,we observe th a t the word pondered catches our atten tio n . If we look
it up in th e Concise Oxford D ictionary we will find the nuances of
m eaning of th is word: weigh m entally; muse over . These definitions
reveal specific shades of m eaning w hen com pared to th e w'ord th in k .
C ontextually, to ponder denotes m ed itativ e thinking, deep em otional
involvem ent in the subject. The sem antic analysis of th e words weak
and weary in th e sam e lines shows us th a t the man is not only tired
bu t also unable to solve th e problem s he sets before him self. It might
well be m entioned here th a t the use of these two a llite rate words, which
are paired synonym s, deepens th e m eaning contained in each word
separately and thus new nuances of m eaning are added to each word
th u s m aking them one sem antic u n it.
In th e th ird line:
O ver many a q u aint and curious volum e of forgotten lore th e se
m antic analysis reveals w'hat is meant by forgotten lore . By leaping a
little ahead th e reader may draw th e conclusion th a t forgotten lore is
magic, and many a volum e is books in which the man has been seeking
ways to meet his beloved in th e other world. If we subject each word of
the poem to such a detailed sem antic analysis we shall be able to get a
clear idea of th e au th o rs thoughts and feelings.
It must be noted th a t the sem antic procedure should not be solely
confined to th e analysis of words; it should also em brace the syntactic
and com positional arrangem ent of the tex t. Thus in the given excerpt the
transfer from th e first stanza to the second can be described as a deviation
from th e main topic th a t is dealt w ith the second stanza is a lyrical
digression, a kind of discontinuum .
The stru ctu ral design of th e sentences w ith in the two stanzas should
also be taken into consideration. There are parallel constructions, anadiplosis along w ith other sy ntactic features. It is understandably im possible
to bring out all th e peculiarities of the syntactic arrangem ent of the sen
tences in the above two stanzas, but those we have m entioned show w hat
is m eant by th e sem antic investigation of the stru ctu re of th e poem.
As to sty listic analysis, wre should single out repetition as the key
device expressed at all levels (phonetic, lexical, syntactical). It is nec
essary to tak e into account cases of direct repetition: rappingrapping,
sorrowsorrow, and paired synonym ous repetitions reinforced by alli
teratio n : weak and weary, q u ain t and curious . S ty listically relevant
are instances of inversion: Eagerly I v shed th e morrow; vainly I

323

had sought to borrow ... the words eagerly and vainly are used to
intensify th e meaning. The effect is further strengthened by th e p aral
lel constructions formed by the above-m entioned words.
The analysis of, we m ight call it, the vertical line of words used, l
particu larly adjectives, reveals the general gloomy atm osphere in which
the mood of th e poet is characterized. If vve bring together such epithets
as dreary, weary, bleak, dving (ember), lost (Lenore) as well as
the nouns m idnight, sorrow, ghost, December we can see th a t these/
words by realizing th eir dictionary and acquired additional co n tex tu al
meanings co n trib u te to th e description of the depressed state of mind of
th e poet.
S tylistic analysis can be successfully m aintained providing the pre
ceding stages have been well investigated; it is the function of sty listic
analysis to g ath er together all the d ata draw n from th e taxonom ic, con
tent-grasping and sem antic stages of investigation. O nly then will the
sty listic analysis disclose the idea of the work as conceived by th e author.
In conclusion we m ust say th at the suggested exam ple provides only a
general idea as to a possible approach to analysis of texts, as we have
d ealt w ith only a part of a tex t, not a w'hole tex t. N e\ertheless, this
cursory analysis will serve the reader as a sam ple; it will direct his a tte n
tion to the necessity of carrying out th e different procedures, for if any of
them is om itted it will be ra th e r difficult to get at the final content-con
ceptual inform ation.

LIST OF AU THORS RE F E R R E D TO

. Abrahams, P.
Addison, Joseph
Aldington, Richard
Aldridge, James
Ascham, Roger
A llot, Kenneth
Austin, Jane

Hood, Thomas
James, Henry
Jerome K- Jerome
Jones, James
Kipling, Rudyard

Beaumont, Francis

Lessing, Doris
London, Jack
Longfellow, Henry
Lyly, John

Brown, Carter
Bunyan, John
Burns, Robert
Byron, George Gordon

Marlowe, Christopher
Mark Twa:n
Maugham, Somerset

Carlyle, Thomas
Carroll, Lewis
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Cronin, Archibald J.
Cummings, Edward

OHara, John
Poe, Edgar Allan
Pope, Alexander
Prichard, Katherine

Defoe, Daniel
Dickens, Charles
Dreiser, Theodore

Salinger, J. D.
Scott, Walter
Shakespeare, W illiam
Shaw, Bernard
Shelley, Percy Bysshe
Southey, Robert
Sterne, Laurence
Stevenson, R. L.
Swift, Jonathan
Swinburne, Algernon Charles

E lyot, Thomas
Empson, W illiam
Fielding, Henry
Ford, Lesl ie
Frost, Robert

Galsworthy, John
Goldsmith, Oliver
Green, Graham

Thackeray, W illiam Makepeace

Whitman, W alt
W ilde, Oscar
W ilson, Mitchel
Wordsworth, W illiam

Hemingway, Ernest
Henry, O.
Heym, Stefan
325

INDEX OF WORDS

catch-phrases 182
catch-words 122
centrifugal 162
centripetal 163
chain-repetition 213
chiasmus 206, 209, 211
lexical chiasmus 210
circumlocution 169
cliche 177 180, 298
climax 210, 219, 221
cockney 116
colloquial
coinage 72, 93, 119 122
layer 2
words 119 122
colloquialism 108 109
commercial correspondence 315
common colloquial words 73, 113
common literary! words 73, 108
communique 34
concept 59, 60, 63, 104
connotation 68
contraction 102
contrast 223
conversion 96
coordination 225

abbreviation 102, 301, 313

advertisements 296, 297, 301
affixes 73, 93, 97, 98
allegory (allegoric) 276
alliteration 125 127, 209
allusion 187 189, 290, 307
amplification 233
anadiplosis 212
anaphora 56, 212
anti- 98
anticlimax 85, 221
antithesis 209 222225
antonomasia 164 166
antonyms 222
aphorism 294
aposiopesis See break-in-the-narrative
archaic words 8387
argumentative sentence patterns 309
articles 287, 297
aspect 72
assimilation 94
asyndeton 226

balance 208
ballad 159, 259
barbarisms 72 8792
bathos 136 138
beJJes-Jettres style 15, 250
blends 100
borrowings 93
breaking-up of set expressions 304, 307
break-in-the-narrative 233 235
brief news items 297301
business letters 314 315

decomposition 189 190

denotation 68
detached constructions 205
de-terminization 308
dialectal words 72, 116 118
dialogue 271, 281285
dichotomy 24
diplomatic document 13
direct speech 211, 236
-dom 98
drama 117, 250, 281, 287
dramatic poetry 282

caesura 211
cant 104 105, 108 109

326

gap-sentence link 227229

giaphical means 226237

editorial 305307
- 98
ellipsis 231233
elliptical sentences 231
embellishment 21
emotional 161
colouring 267
constructions 153
emotive prose 115, 117, 250. 270
emphatic constructions 205
enjambment 256, 282
stanza enjambment 257
entropy 163
enumeration 133, 216
heterogeneous enumeration 217
epigram 210, 294
epiphora 212
epithet 154, 157
associated 158
compound 159
fixed 159
language 159
phrase 159
reversed 160
simple 159
speech 159
string of 161
transferred 161
unassociated 158
ese 98
essay 13, 287, 293295
euphemism 173176
political 175
euphuism 272
euphuistic style 272
exact sciences 34, 310
exclamatory words 153, 154 157
expressive means (EM) 9, 10, 17, 2535,
211, 213

H
heroic couplet 185, 258
historical words 84
humanitarian sciences 34, 310
hyperbole 176 177
hypermetric line 256
hypometric line 256
I
image 142 144, 265
abstract 264
concrete 264
imagery 64, 264
implication 234
indirect speech 236237
individual manner 9, 13
individual style 13, 14 16
intensifier 27, 101
interjection 67, 119, 154 157,
derivative 155
primary 155
intonation 154, 159, 235237,
invariant 182 183
inversion 203, 210
irony 139, 146 148
-ize 97
J

jargon 72, 104 105, 108 110

jargonism 109 113
juncture 257
L

language-in-action 24
language-as-a-system 24
lead 300
learned words 72
legal documents 34
linking 212, 225
literary coinages 72, 92 104, 120
literary genre 15, 23
literary language 41 57

five-w-and-h 300
folk songs 159
foreign words 72, 8792
formulative sentence patterns 309
framing 212

327

209

239

literary layer 72, 121

litotes 246248
local colour 88

nomenclature 7879, 312

nonce-words 72, 120 122
non-literary English 116, 117
non-neutral 15 16
norm 18 19, 3548, 275, 278, 281, 286
neutral layer 7071

M
macro-unit 260
-manship 16
meaning 25, 5769
contextual 58, 66, 122, 138, 144
derivative 142, 148
em otive 64, 66, 153
lexical 25, 58, 59
logical 59, 64, 153, 164
nominal 64, 6869, 164
primary 64, 148
referential 25, 59, 64
secondary 65
transferred 139
measure 253
metaphor 139 144
contributory 142, 143
genuine 141 143
principal 142
sustained 142 143
trite 141 143
memoir 294
metonymy 139 146
metre 130, 131, 252, 282
monometer 254
dimeter 254
trimeter 254
tetrameter 254
pentamatcr 54
hexameter 254
octameter 254
monologue 285
m u ltip licity of style 280

obsolescent 83, 162

obsolete 83
octave 259
official documents, style o f 312318
onomatopoeia 124 126
^ ~d rect 124
indirect 125
oratorical style 287
oratory 288292
ottava rima 259
oxymoron 162 164
P
paradox 294
paragraph 198, 212
parallel constructions 133, 208211
complete 208
partial 208
parenthesis 207
period 218
periodical sentence 218
periphrasis 169 173
pleonasm 215
poetic words 72 , 7982
poetical style 124
poetry 15, 252
polysemy 72, 148
polysyndeton 226227
postulatory sentence patterns 309
predictability 86, 182
professionalisms 109, 113 115, 118
professional, words 72
proverb 127,^481 183
publicistic style 287288
pun 148, 151
punctuation 207
purism 12, 47
purport 195, 197
pyrrhic 255

neologism 299
terminological 92
stylistic S3
neutral words 71, 72, 308
newspaper
articles 143, 295, 297
headlines 298, 302304
language 295298
style 295298
328

Q
quatrain 259
question-in-the-narrative
quotation 13, 309

sty listic device (SD) 2535

subordination 210, 225
suprasegmental 137
supralinear 62, 137, 213
supra-phrasal unit 194 198
suspense 218
synonym repetition 215
synonyms 7273
dictionary 169
euphemistic 173
figurative 172
logical 172
periphrastic 169, 172
traditional 169
syntagm 256

235236

redundancy of information 284

reduplication 212
reference 309
referent 175
repetition 209215
represented speech 236243
unuttered (inner) 236
uttered 238
review 294
rhetoric 191
rhetorical question 209, 244246
rhyme 128 129
internal f2S
rhythm 17, 129 135, 209, 215
rhythmical inversion 132
root-repetition 215
run-on line 256, 282

tautology 215
technique of expression 22
tell tale names 165
tercet 259
terms 7679, 92, 113, 114
theory of information 9
-thon 99
token names 165
topic sentence 200
transferred meaning 139
treatise 130, 294

scientific
language 307
prose style 307312
semantic structure 64, 113, 119
word-building 96
semi-prefix 48
sestette 259
^
set phrases (expressions) 159, 177
-ship 98
signals of attention 284
signification 68
sim ile 143, 167 169
slang 104 109, 116, 122
sonnet 259
spoken language 35-*-4I
spondee 255
stable word-combination 158
standard English vocabulary 72, 115, 118
stanza 209, 258260
Spencerian stanza 258
style of language 3235, 249

U
utterance 195

variant 12
verse 131, 133, 135
accented 261
blank 282
classical 253
free 253, 261
syllabo-tonic 253
vulgarism 118 119, 122
vulgar words 72, 118, 119, 122

W
written language 9, 3541

zeugma 148 151

329

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