Analysis of syntactical stylistic devices based on the arrangement of sentence members

Ellipsis – is a figure of speech, the omission of a word or words required by strict grammatical rules but not by sense. The missing words are implied by the context. In the novel this reception is used rather frequently, because the story goes from the first person. This device is used to create an effect of the colloquial language, to represent an internal monologue or flow of consciousness, so to show such speech sphere, where the man does not need to be guided by rules of grammar in order to create the statement. Ellipsis may convey the emotional state of the narrator. 6‘Why not come down to Manderley next week-end?’ – in this sentence a subject and an auxiliary verb are omitted.

           Rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for special effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer. Such constructions we can find in the analyzable part of the text in the thoughts of the narrator 7‘Was he still laughing at me, was it all a joke?’, and in the direct speech of Maxim 8‘I'm being rather a brute to you, aren't I?’. These questions require no answer. The heroes set such question to themselves or assert obvious in the form of a question.

Oxymorons are a proper subset of the expressions called contradictions in terms. What distinguishes oxymorons from other paradoxes and contradictions is that they are used intentionally, for rhetorical effect, and the contradiction is only apparent, as the combination of terms provides a novel expression of some concept. In Rebecca’s fragment we have 9‘violent love’. To describe such feeling as love the positive adjectives are used more often. In the given example the adjective with negative colouring is used thus it receives the meaning strong.

Personification – is the presentation of unanimated objects, phenomena or ideas as if they were human beings. It makes the narration more emphatic: 10‘…the words going slowly to my head’.

Some stylistic devices of semasiology are used to create interesting turns of a plot. For example, during all the fragment Du Maurier forces a situation, creates an atmosphere of suspense – is a deliberate postponing of the completion of the main sort until the end of the utterance. It produces psychological effect, conveys the stays of expectation, uncertainty. The author interrupts the narration to describe naive dreams of the heroine. Such lyrical deviation forces the reader to expect impatiently, how the main turn of a plot will be finished.

Also the given part of the text demonstrate the element of irony, mockery. For example, when the romantic ideas of the heroine were rudely interrupted by the Maxim’s statement about the tangerine. This the moment is very symbolical. It is possible to say, that the life of the narrator will be not as sweet as she dreamt, but as bitter, as that tangerine.

In the analyzable part of the novel the atmosphere of suspense and some irony elements were described with a help of anticlimax – is an abrupt declension (either deliberate or unintended) on the part of a writer from the dignity of idea which he appeared to be aiming at. Anticlimax deforms the narration in the highest point by the final notion as something opposite to what was expected. In Rebecca at that moment, when the dreams absorbed the narrator, with the help of this device the idyll of romanticism was destroyed by absolutely not romantic utterance about sour fruit.

           Stylistic lexicology. In the given fragment of Rebecca we can find two examples of using phraseological units: ‘You would feel then you were getting your money's worth’ (it means to get something worth the price that you paid); ‘My mind ran riot then…’ (if your imagination, emotions, thoughts etc run riot, you cannot or do not control them). The stylistic function of phraseological units is not nominating of any new phenomena, they give a concrete definition and figuratively emotional evaluation of the subjects, phenomena, actions. 
           Detachment. Nature had come into her own again and, 11 little by little, in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached upon the drive with long, tenacious fingers.( 1 )

I came upon it suddenly; the approach masked by the unnatural growth of a vast shrub that spread in all directions, and I stood, 12my heart thumping in my breast, the strange prick of tears behind my eyes. There was another plant too, some half-breed from the woods, whose seed had been scattered long ago beneath the trees and then forgotten, and 13 now, marching in unison with the ivy, thrust its ugly form like a giant rhubarb towards the soft grass where the daffodils had blown. (1 )

I left the drive and went on to the terrace, for the nettles were no barrier to me, a dreamer.

I looked upon a desolate shell, 14 soulless at last, undaunted, with no whisper of the past about its staring walls.( 2 )

A cloud, 15 hitherto unseen, came upon the moon, and hovered an instant like a dark hand before a face. (2 ) 
At first I had been shocked, 16 wretchedly embarrassed;  
For many years now she had come to the Hotel Cote d'Azur, and, 17 apart from bridge… 
At the Cote d'Azur she staked a claim upon a certain sofa in the lounge, 18 midway between the reception hall and the passage to the restaurant… 
Sometimes she would employ me as a bait to draw her prey, and,19 hating my errand… 
It seemed as though notables must be fed to her, 20 much as invalids are spooned their jelly; 
I can see her as though it were but yesterday, on that unforgettable afternoon – 21 never mind how many years ago -when she sat at her favorite sofa in the lounge, 22 debating her method of attack. I could tell by her abrupt manner, 23 and the way she tapped her lorgnette against her teeth, that she was questing possibilities. 
I could imagine, 24 in spite of my youth and inexperience of the world that he would resent this sudden bursting in upon his solitude… 
Tact was a quality unknown to her, 25 discretion too… 
It seemed to me, 26 rather senselessly, that I was allowing him a few more moments of seclusion. 
I had been longer than I thought, for when I returned to the lounge I saw he had already left the dining-room, and she, 27 fearful of losing him… 
He rose to his feet at once, while Mrs. Van Hopper, 28 flushed with her success… 
She always spoke in that tone when she wished to be impressive, and her method of introduction was a form of self-protection, for once I had been taken for her daughter, 29 an acute embarrassment for us both. … 30 while men, with large relief… 
For a moment she looked annoyed – 31 this was not what she had intended… 
talking eagerly and loudly, fluttering the letter in her hand. 
32 I had forgotten where… 
She paused, 33 expecting him to smile, but he went on smoking his cigarette, and I noticed, 34 faint as gossamer, the line between his brows. 
This was more than I had hitherto endured, 35 even from her… 
In fact, it was while staying with my family that the name was given him. He was invariably late for dinner.' 
She deserved it, 36 of course, and I waited for her change of face, but incredible as it may seem his words were lost on her, and I was left to writhe in her stead, 37 feeling like a child that had been smacked. 
I think he realized my distress, for he leant forward in his chair and spoke to me, his voice gentle, asking if I would have more coffee, and when I refused and shook my head I felt his eyes were still on me, 38 puzzled, reflective. 
'She's spoilt, 39 Mr. de Winter, that's her trouble. 
'Wouldn't that rather defeat the purpose?' he said, 40 smiling. 
She shrugged her shoulders, 41 blowing a great cloud of cigarette smoke into the air. 
She babbled on, 42impervious.

' He reached for the ashtray, 43 squashing his cigarette, and I noticed the subtle change in his eyes, the indefinable something that lingered there, 44 momentarily… 
A silence fell upon us during a moment or two, a silence that brought something of discomfort in its train, and stealing a glance at him I was reminded more than ever of my Gentleman Unknown who, 45 cloaked and secret… 
'She never had, 46 to my knowledge.'

She ran on, 47 through a tangled fringe of gossip… 
He got up at once, 48 pushing back his chair. 
This familiarity was excessive, 49even for her, and I caught a glimpse of his expression. 
There was a momentary pause, while I stood stricken, 50 waiting for his answer. He looked down at us, 51 mocking, faintly sardonic, a ghost of a smile on his lips. 
I thought of the ashtrays I would have to clear, and how the squashed stubs, 52 stained with lipstick…  
Bridge does not come easily to a mind brought up on Snap and Happy Families; 53 besides, it bored her friends to play with me. 
I felt my youthful presence put a curb upon their conversation,54 much as a parlour-maid does until the arrival of dessert… 
It might have held a presence mediaeval; and, 55 reaching to the desk for pencil and paper…

But my name was on the envelope, and spelt correctly, an unusual thing.

 

Suspence. 56The woods, always a menace even in the past, had triumphed in the end. ( 1 )

And Jasper, dear Jasper, with his soulful eyes and great, 57 sagging jowl, would be stretched upon the floor, his tail a-thump when he heard his master's footsteps. (2 )

58 Ashtrays, with the stub of a cigarette; cushions, with the imprint of our heads upon them, lolling in the chairs; the charred embers of our log fire still smoldering against the morning.( 2 ) 
 
          Partial Inversion. 59 Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.( 1)

 60 Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden with supernatural powers and passed like a spirit through the barrier before me.( 1 )

61 At first I was puzzled and did not understand, and it was only when I bent my head to avoid the low swinging branch of a tree that I realized what had happened.( 1 )

 62 Scattered here and again amongst this jungle growth I would recognize shrubs that had been landmarks in our time, things of culture and grace, hydrangeas whose blue heads had been famous.

63 For Manderley was ours no longer. 

            Complete Inversion. On and on, now east now west, 64 wound the poor thread that once had been our drive. 

Parallel Construction. 65 No hand had checked their progress, and they had gone native now…

66 They choked the terrace, they sprawled about the paths, they leant, vulgar and lanky, against the very windows of the house.

67 They made indifferent sentinels, for in many places their ranks had been broken by the rhubarb plant, 68 and they lay with crumpled heads and listless stems, making a pathway for the rabbits.

69 Light came from the windows, the curtains blew softly in the night air,…

70 Ashtrays, with the stub of a cigarette; cushions, with the imprint of our heads upon them,…

71 We would not talk of Manderley, I would not tell my dream.

72 Ashtrays, with the stub of a cigarette; cushions, with the imprint of our heads upon them, lolling 
in the chairs; the charred embers of our log fire still smoldering against the morning. 
           Repetition. Ordinary repetition. Catch Repetition. It seemed 73 to me I stood by the Iron Gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me.

74 The drive wound away in front of me, twisting and turning as it had always done, but as I advanced I was aware that a change had come upon it; it was narrow and unkempt, not the drive that we had known.

75 I came upon it suddenly; the approach masked by the unnatural growth of a vast shrub that spread in all directions, and I stood, my heart thumping in my breast, the strange prick of tears behind my eyes. 
As I stood there, hushed and still, I could swear that the house was not an empty shell but lived and breathed as it had lived before. 
And there were other trees as well, trees that I did not recognize… 
Somehow she would manage to introduce herself, and before her victim had scented danger she had proffered an invitation to 76 her suite. Her method of attack was so downright and sudden that there was seldom opportunity to escape. 
Not for the first time 78 I resented the part that I must play in her schemes. 
79 I had been longer than I thought, for when I returned to the lounge I saw he had already left the dining-room, and she, fearful of losing him, had not waited for the letter, but had risked a bare-faced introduction on her own. 
80 'I don't think I should care for Palm Beach… 
81 …I was reminded of a portrait seen in a gallery, I had forgotten where… 
Could one but rob him of his English tweeds, and put him in black, with lace at his throat and wrists, he would stare down at us in our new world from a long-distant 82 past - a past where men walked cloaked at night, and stood in the shadow of old doorways, a past of narrow stairways and dim dungeons, a past of whispers in the dark, of shimmering rapier blades, of silent, exquisite courtesy. 
83 I wished I could remember… 
84 'I've seen pictures of it, of course,' she persisted, 'and it looks perfectly enchanting. I remember Billy telling me it had all those big places beat for beauty. I wonder you can ever bear to leave it.' 
'Of course you Englishmen are all the same about your homes,' she said, her voice becoming 85 louder and louder… 
There was a pause, and 86 I felt the colour flood into my face. I was too young, that was the trouble… 
87 A silence fell upon us during a moment or two, a silence that brought something of discomfort in its train, and stealing a glance at him I was reminded more than ever of my Gentleman Unknown who, cloaked and secret, walked a corridor by night… 
'now I've been brave enough to break the ice 88 I hope I shall see something of you. 
89 'I'm so sorry,' he said, 'tomorrow I am probably driving to Sospel, I'm not sure when I shall get back.' 
90 I remember a well-known writer once who used to dart down the Service staircase whenever he saw me coming. I suppose he had a penchant for me and wasn't sure of himself. 
91 I thought of the ashtrays I would have to clear… 
92 …I told him but he shook his head and said it was for me. I opened it, and found a single sheet of note-paper inside, with a few words written in an unfamiliar hand. 
          Epiphora. There was 93 Manderley, our Manderley… 
Moonlight can play odd tricks upon the 94 fancy, even upon a dreamer's fancy… 
95 And Jasper, dear Jasper… 
         Anaphora. 96 They choked the terrace, they sprawled about the paths, they leant, vulgar and lanky, against the very windows of the house. 
97 They made indifferent sentinels, for in many places their ranks had been broken by the rhubarb plant, and they lay with crumpled heads and listless stems, making a pathway for the rabbits. 
         Simile. Funny to think that the course of my existence hung 98 like a thread upon that quality of hers.  
I would feel like a 99 whipping boy… 
100 Like a juggler's assistant I produced the props, then silent and attentive I waited on my cue. 
There was nothing for it but to sit in my usual place beside Mrs. Van Hopper while she, 101 like a large, complacent spider… 
'I'm told 102 it's like fairyland, there's no other word for it.' 
She paused, expecting him to smile, but he went on smoking his cigarette, and I noticed, 103 faint as gossamer, the line between his brows. 
His silence now was painful, and would have been patent to anyone else, but she ran on 104 like a clumsy goat… 
She deserved it, of course, and I waited for her change of face, but incredible as it may seem his words were lost on her, and I was left to writhe in her stead, 105 feeling like a child that had been smacked.

Mrs. Van Hopper's voice pierced my dream 106 like an electric bell.

High up in the tumbled roof there was a window, 107 narrow as a slit. 
         Ellipsis. 108 'Go upstairs quickly and find that letter from my nephew

109 Bring it down to me right away.

'Mr. de Winter is having coffee with us, 110 go and ask the waiter for another cup…

111 'Not since Ethelred… 
112 Tell me, is it true the Caxton-Hyslop marriage is not a success?'

113 'Don't let me keep you,' he said.

114 Why not join us?

'By the way, dear,' she said, as we walked along the corridor, 115 'don't think … 
'Oh, come, 116 don't sulk… 
117 'Forgive me. 
118 No signature, and no beginning. 
119 'No,' I said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

The central theme of our Diploma Thesis was “Analysis of Syntactical Stylistic Devices based on part of the novel by Daphne Du Maurier “Rebecca”.”

The reason of choosing this theme was a need for investigations in such rapid changing and constantly enriching science as stylistics.

    Our practical analysis was based on the novel “Rebecca” written by Daphne du Maurier. The novel was published in 1938.

We have proved our hypothesis  that the most frequently used syntactical stylistic devices are detachment, parallel constructions, repetition, and simile.

      The aims of our work were to investigate the role of stylistic devices, to define their features and to compare different syntactical stylistic devices as to understand which types of syntactical stylistic devices (Detachment, Parallel Construction, Repetition, Simile, Asyndeton, Polysindeton and etc.) predominate in English Literature, which devices  are more frequently used and to enrich our vocabulary of the language. For achieving these aims we have set the following tasks:

- to study and analyze the theoretical sources concerned with syntactical stylistic devices in the English language;

- To read and analyze the novel “Rebecca”;

- To find and analyze these syntactical stylistic devices;

- To divide the analyzed sentences into corresponding groups, according to provided theoretical sources;

- To analyze the frequency and productivity of each type of syntactical stylistic devices and to represent the obtained statistical data in attached diagram.

Our listed aims and tasks in the Introduction have been achieved.

The Diploma Thesis was based on the complex method of investigation, analytical method (while working with theoretical sources); selective method, syntactical method.

Our practical analysis was based on the novel “Rebecca”, written by an English novelist, biographer and playwright. The aim of our work was to investigate all syntactical stylistic devices and to analyze which of them predominate in the English Literature. We have this novel, which contains a lot of syntactical stylistic devices.

We have obtained the proportion of all analyzed words from the novel “Rebecca” built with the help of Syntactical Stylistic Devices. We have analyzed Three Chapters of this novel. And find there:

 - 44 Detachment

- 3 Suspence

-  14 Inversion

- 8 Parallel Construction

- 17 Repetition

- 9 Simile

- 10 Ellipsis

and others.

Hence, we have got the following statistics:

Reviewing types of Syntactical Stylistic Devices (Detachment, Parallel Construction, Repetition, Simile, Asyndeton, Polysindeton and etc.),we may draw the conclusion that Detachment, Inversion, Repetition and Ellipsis are the most frequent well known and elaborated among them.

I found that in literature and writing, a syntactical stylistic devices is the use of any of a variety of techniques to give an auxiliary meaning, idea, or feeling to the literal or written.

I can tell that this project was to me very difficultly, but having put the diligence I think that has managed with a task in view. I have analyzed all stylistic devices and have learned for myself a lot of new, namely value of all stylistic receptions both in the literature, and in our daily life. Having read the novel “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier I have understood statements, which in the literature stylistic offers and in construction of offers always are used.

The reason of choosing this theme is, to explain value of Syntactical Stylistic Devices. This theme is various enough and difficult inherently, but it and is interesting to these. The beginning of our work seemed to us very difficult as we have familiarized with many stylistic devices which in a consequence have helped us to understand that we use in offers and that author in the verses and novels use. Stylistic Devices were used always and will be used, all of us them we use even in daily speech.

In the end I would like to add that we should read more to develop and know everything as we want to become professionals in our business, and for this purpose we should try and work.

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

1.Ахманова О.С. Очерки по общей и русской лексикологии. 1957,296 стр.

2. Y.M.Skrebnev. Fundamentals of English Stylistics. M. V.Sh. 1994 
3. I.R.Galperin. Stylistics. M. V.Sh. 1981 
4. V.A.Kukharenko. A Book of Practice in Stylistics. M. V.Sh. 1986 
5. Melenciuc D. English Lexicology .CE USM. Chishinau, 2002 
6. Г. Б. Антрушина, О. В. Афанасьева, Н. Н. Морозова. Лексикологияанглийскогоязыка.        English Lexicology. Москва, 2011 
7. Minaeva L.English. Lexicology and Lexicography. АСТ, Астрель стр. 2007 
8. Зыкова, И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии: учеб. Пособие для студ. лингв, вузов и фак. ин. Языков, [Text], И.В.Зыкова – 2-е изд.,испр. – М.: Издательскийцентр «Академия», 2006. — 288 с.. 
9. GyrevichV.V. “English Stylistics.”[Text]V.V.Gyrevich Moscow”Наука”2011 -68 p. 
10. ZnamenskaiaT.A.”Stylystics of the English Language.Fundamentals of the Course”[Text]

Т.A.Znamenskaya Moscow“USSR”2005-224 p.

 

Dictionaries 

11.Cambridge University Press 2011;

12. Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms, Oxford , University Press, 1999;

13. Language Activator. Longman, 1996;

14.Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman, 1992, 2 volumes;

15. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary;

16. Webster’s New World College Dictionary Third Edition, Macmillan, USA 1997; 
17. Сassell's New English Dictionary (Fifteenth Edition ~ Enlarged and Revised) 1682 pages

Publisher: Cassell and Company (1949)Arthur L. Hayward (Editor), Ernest A. Baker (Editor) 
18. Ахманова, О.С. Англо-русский словарь: 20 000 словО.С. Ахманова, Е.А. Уилсон. – М.: Русский дом, 1976. – 640 с.

 

Internet Sources

19. http://www.scribd.com/doc/7474428/Rebecca-by-Daphne-du-Maurier 
20. http://lib.aldebaran.ru/author/dyu_more_dafna/dyu_more_dafna_rebekka/ 
21. http://rebecca-1989.narod.ru/ 
22.http://www.erlib.com/%D0%94%D0%B0%D1%84%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%94%D1%8E%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%B5/%D0%A0%D0%B5%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%BA%D0%B0/1/ 
23. http://www.librarything.com/author/maurierdaphnedu 
24. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dumaurie.htm 
25. http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2001717.Daphne_du_Maurier 

Original Sources

26. Kukharenko V.A. “A Book of Practice in Stylistics” 
27. I.R.Galperin. “Stylistics” 
28. Г. Б. Антрушина, О. В. Афанасьева, Н. Н. Морозова. “Лексикология английского языка.”“EnglishLexicology.” 
29.Daphne du Maurier “Rebecca.” 

Appendix 1 

Polysindeton- At the Cote d'Azur she staked a claim upon a certain sofa in the lounge, midway between the reception hall and the passage to the restaurant, and she would have her coffee there after luncheon and dinner, and all who came and went must pass her by. 
'Why, I hardly think...' she began, and then suddenly, and unbelievably, she turned upon me, 'Perhaps you could make yourself useful to Mr. de Winter, if he wants anything done. 
 
Apokoinu Construction- I wished I had the courage to go by the Service staircase and so by roundabout way to the restaurant, and there warn him of the ambush. 
It meant I was a youthful thing and unimportant, and that there was no need to include me in the conversation. 
'I'm afraid I must contradict you,' he said to her, 'you are both having coffee with me'; and before I knew what had happened he was sitting in my usual hard chair, and I was on the sofa beside Mrs. Van Hopper. 
'You know I recognized you just as soon as you walked into the restaurant,' she said, 'and I thought, "Why, there's Mr. de Winter, Billy's friend, I simply must show him those snaps of Billy and his bride taken on their honeymoon", and here they are. 
But I dare say you don't remember an old woman like me?' 
'I don't think I should care for Palm Beach,' he said, blowing the match, and glancing at him I thought how unreal he would look against a Florida background. 
I wished I could remember the Old Master who had painted that portrait. 
'Mr. de Winter is so modest he won't admit to it, but I believe that lovely home of his has been in his family's possession since the Conquest. 
I think he realized my distress, for he leant forward in his chair and spoke to me, his voice gentle, asking if I would have more coffee, and when I refused and shook my head I felt his eyes were still on me, puzzled, reflective. 
I don't think she understood him for a moment. 
He reached for the ashtray, squashing his cigarette, and I noticed the subtle change in his eyes, the indefinable something that lingered there, momentarily, and I felt I had looked upon something personal to himself with which I had no concern. 
'I suppose you know a crowd of people here, though I must say Monte is very dull this winter. 
'Fashions change so quickly nowadays they may even have altered by the time you get upstairs.' 
'I hope they've given you a good room; the place is half empty, so if you are uncomfortable mind you make a fuss. 
'By the way, dear,' she said, as we walked along the corridor, 'don't think I mean to be unkind, but you put yourself just a teeny bit forward this afternoon. 
 
Climax- Her curiosity was a disease, almost a mania.