Compositional patterns of syntactical arrangement

Lecture 14

•S Stylistic inversion

•S Detached constructions.

^ Parallel constructions

Word order 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.. Unlike grammatical inversion stylistic inversion does not change the structural meaning of the sentence, that is, the change in the juxtaposition of the members of the sentence does not indicate structural meaning but has some superstructural function.Stylistic Inversion aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional colouring to the surface meaning of the utterance. Therefore a specific intonation pattern is the inevitable satellite of inversion. The following patterns of stylistic inversion are most frequently met in both English prose and English poetry.

1. The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence (see the example above).

2. The attribute is placed after the word it modifies (postposition of the attribute). This model is often used when there is more than one attribute, for example:

"With fingers weary and worn..." (Thomas Hood)

"Once upon a midnight dreary..." (E. A. Рое)

3. a) The predicative is placed before the subject as in

"A good generous prayer it was." (Mark Twain)

or b) the predicative stands before the link verb and both are placed before the subject as in

"Rude am I in my speech..." (Shakespeare)

4. The adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence, as in

"Eagerly I wished the morrow." (Рое)

"My dearest daughter, at your feet I fall." (Dryden)

"A tone of most extraordinary comparison Miss Tox said it in".

(Dickens)

5. Both modifier and predicate stand before the subject, as in

"In went Mr. Pickwick." (Dickens)

"Down dropped the breeze..." (Coleridge)

Sometimes one of the secondary parts of the sentence by some specific consideration of the writer is placed so that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to. Such parts of structures are calleddetached. The structural patterns of detached constructions have not yet been classified, but the most noticeable cases are those in which an attribute or an adverbial modifier is placed not in immediate proximity to its referent, but in some other position. The essential quality of detached construction lies in the fact that the isolated parts represent a kind of independent whole thrust into the sentence or placed in a position which will make the phrase (or word) seem independent. A variant of detached construction isparenthesis.

Parallel construction is a device which may be encountered not so much in the sentence as in the macro-structures dealt with earlier, viz. the syntactical whole and the paragraph. Parallel constructions are often backed up by repetition of words (lexical repetition) and conjunctions and prepositions (polysyndeton). Parallel constructions may be partial or complete. Partial parallel arrangement is the repetition of some parts of successive sentences or clauses. Complete parallel arrangement, also called balance, maintains the principle of identical structures throughout the corresponding sentences. There are two main functions of parallel construction: semantic and structural. Parallel construction is used in different styles of writing with slightly different functions. When used in the matter-of-fact styles it carries, in the main, the idea of semantic equality of the parts, as in scientific prose, where the logical principle of arranging ideas predominates. In the belles-lettres style parallel construction carries an emotive function. That is why it is mainly used as a technical means in building up other stylistic devices, in particular antithesis and climax.

Questions

What aspects must we take into consideration when viewing the stylistic functions of different syntactical designs (patterns)?

I. Stylistic inversion

1. What is peculiar about word order in the English language?

6. What is inverted word order (inversion)?

7. What is the difference between grammatical and stylistic inversion? What does stylistic inversion aim at?

8. What are the most common models of inversion?

Detached constructions

8. What constructions are called detached?

8. What are the most noticeable cases of detached constructions?

8. What is the essential quality of a detached construction?

8. What is a variant of detached constructions?

Parallel construction

8. What kind of device is parallel construction?

8. How are parallel constructions backed up?

8. What are partial and complete parallel constructions characterized by?

8. What are the main functions of parallel constructions?

8. What functions does parallel construction perform indifferent styles?

8. What other SDs can it build?

Lecture 15

	Chiasmus
	Repetition
	Enumeration
	Suspense
	Climax
	Antithesis

Chiasmus belongs to the group of stylistic devices based on the repetition of a syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phrases. Both parts of the parallel construction have the same, the normal word order. However the witty arrangement of the words has given the utterance an epigrammatic character. This device may be classed aslexical chiasmus or chiasmatic repetition. It must be remembered that chiasmus is a syntactical, not a lexical device, i.e. it is only the arrangement of the parts of the utterance which constitutes this stylistic device.

Repetition is an expressive means of language used when the speaker is under the stress of strong emotion. When used as a stylistic device, repetition acquires quite different functions. It does not aim at making a direct emotional impact. On the contrary, the stylistic device of repetition aims at logical emphasis, an emphasis necessary to fix the attention of the reader on the keyword of the utterance. Repetition is classified according to compositional design. If the repeated word (or phrase) comes at the beginning of two or more consecutive sentences, clauses or phrases, we haveanaphora,as in the example above. If the repeated unit is placed at the end of consecutive sentences, clauses or phrases we have the type of repetition calledepiphora. This compositional design of repetition is calledframing. Among other compositional models of repetition islinking orreduplication (also known as anadiplosis). The structure 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 part, thus hooking the two parts together. The first, the primary one, is to intensify the utterance. Intensification is the direct outcome of the use of the expressive means employed in ordinary intercourse; but when used in other compositional designs, the immediate emotional charge is greatly suppressed and is replaced by a purely aesthetic aim. Meditation, sadness, reminiscence and other psychological and emotional states of mind are suggested by the repetition. The variety of repetition may be calledsynonym repetition. This is the repetition of the same idea by using synonymous words and phrases which by adding a slightly different nuance of meaning intensify the impact of the utterance. There are two terms frequently used to show the negative attitude of the critic to all kinds of synonym repetitions. These arepleonasm andtautology.The "Shorter Oxford Dictionary" defines pleonasm as "the use of more words in a sentence than are necessary to express the meaning; redundancy of expression." Tautology is defined as "the repetition of the same statement; the repetition (especially in the immediate context) of the same word or phrase or of the same idea or statement in other words; usually as a fault of style."

Enumeration is a stylistic device by means of which homogeneous parts of an utterance are made heterogeneous from the semantic point of view.

Suspense is a compositional device which consists in arranging the matter of a communication in such a way that the less important, descriptive, subordinate parts are amassed at the beginning, the main idea being withheld till the end of the sentence. Suspense always requires long stretches of speech or writing. It must be noted that suspense, due to its partly psychological nature (it arouses a feeling of expectation), is framed in one sentence, for there must not be any break in the intonation pattern. Separate sentences would violate the principle of constant emotional tension which is characteristic of this device.

Climax is an arrangement of sentences (or of the homogeneous parts of one sentence) which secures a gradual increase in significance, importance, or emotional tension in the utterance. A gradual increase in significance may be maintained in three ways: logical, emotional and quantitative.Logical climax is based on the relative importance of the component parts looked at from the point of view of the concepts embodied in them.Emotional climax is based on the relative emotional tension produced

by words with emotive meaning. Quantitative climax is an evident increase in the volume of the corresponding concepts. The indispensable constituents of climax are:

9. the distributional constituent: close proximity of the component parts arranged in increasing order of importance or significance;

10. the syntactical pattern: structure of each of the clauses or sentences with possible lexical repetition;

11. the connotative constituent: the explanatory context which helps the reader to grasp the gradation, as no... ever once in all his life, nobody ever, nobody, No beggars (Dickens); deep and wide, horrid, dark and tall (Byron); veritable (gem of a city).

Climax, like many other stylistic devices, is a means by which the author discloses his world outlook, his evaluation of objective facts and phenomena. The concrete stylistic function of this device is to show the relative importance of things as seen by the author (especially in emotional climax), or to impress upon the reader the significance of the things described by suggested comparison, or to depict phenomena dynamically

Antithesis is based on relative opposition which arises out of the context through the expansion of objectively contrasting pairs. However it is essential to distinguish between antithesis and what is termedcontrast. Contrast is a literary (not a linguistic) device, based on logical opposition between the phenomena set one against another.

Questions

Chiasmus

11. What is chiasmus characterized by?

11. What is the difference between syntactical and lexical chiasmus?

Repetition

11. What is repetition?

11. What aspect is stronger in repetition as SD: emotional or logical?

11. How is repetition classified?

11. What is the compositional design of repetition called?

11. What are compositional models of repetition?

11. What stylistic functions does repetition perform?

11. What is 'synonymous repetition'?