Стилистика английского языка

Alongside political words there are colloquial words and expressions, slang, professionalisms.

Editorials are full of both lexical and syntactical stylistic devices, but mostly traditional ones. One can find a great number of trite metaphors, epithets, allusions, repetition, parallel constructions, antithesis, climax, rhetorical questions and other means.

4. Scientific Prose Style. Scientific prose style aims at giving the reader exact knowledge in a given branch of science. The language means used are objective, precise, unemotional, devoid of any individuality. The most striking features of the scientific prose style are:

1. the general vocabulary is neutral with plenty of literary words and terms. The words are used in their primary logical meaning. Terms are created so as to be self-explanatory to the greatest possible degree. Every branch of science has a terminology of its own. A term makes more direct reference to something than a descriptive explanation, that’s why new terms can be rapidly created in any developing science.

2. Any scientific writing is logically arranged. Each paragraph should have a key-sentence usually placed at the beginning. There are 3 sentence patterns in scientific prose: postulatory, argumentative and formulative. The connections between elements inside sentences or between sentences are expressed by means of various conjunctions and connective words, e.g. that, and that, if,. as, or, nor, not merely, but also, both..and, as..as, thereby, therefor, etc. The word order is mostly direct. To emphasize the logical connection the following words or word-combinations are used: to sum up, as we have seen, as has been proved, etc.
3. The wide use of passive constructions which is connected with impersonality of scientific prose. Such verbs as suppose, assume, point out are frequently used, e.g. it must be supposed, it should be pointed out, it must be assumed. The passive constructions in exact sciences are used more frequently than in the humanities.

Other characteristic features of scientific prose style are: a) the used of quotations and references, b) the frequent use of foot-notes.

5. The Style of Official Documents

The style of official documents is used for the drawing up of documents. A great variety of documents allows to point out substyles such as commercial, diplomatic, legal, military documents. Besides there are various rules, orders, charters, regulations, etc. Common of all the mentioned substyles is the impersonality of the writing. The words are used in their direct meaning. Characteristic features:

Each substyle is characterized by its own terms,

Abbreviations are commonly used in the style of official documents especially in   military and business documents,

A special system of cliches and set expressions by which each substyle can be easily organized, e.g. I beg to inform you, We shall be pleased to hear, in accordance with, Dear Sir, we remain, your obedient servants, etc.

The official documents are full of archaisms (therein, hereafter, thereto) and Latin words (alibi, status quo).  The compositional form and the vocabulary have the traces of the times when the drawing up of documents originated. Some (law documents) can be traces even to the Middle Ages, hence the abundance of archaisms and words of Romanic origin.

Each substyle is characterized  not only by its vocabulary, the syntactical pattern is also of great importance. The desire to compress the contents of the document in a few sentences and at the same time to avoid misinterpretation results in a complicated syntax: the sentences are long and contain many dependent and parenthetical clauses. In order to reduce the number of subordinate clauses participial, gerundial and infinitive constructions are used. They are generally arranged in parallel constructions in order to attach equal importance to each of the items mentioned.

It is an established custom to divide separate utterances by numbers. Several predicatives, all expressed in infinitive constructions, may be given in separate numbered utterances.

The business letters have a distinctly different compositional patter. The essential part of such documents is the letter-head which contains the title of the firm, the nature of business, its address and telephone number. Note that archaic words are often used, cliches. The whole document may consist of only one sentence.

(Galperin I. R. Stylistics. – M., 1977.)

 

Тема 13. TEXT AS AN OBJECT OF STYLISTIC ANALYSIS IN ENGLISH

1. Stylistics as a branch of linguistics deals with texts for the purpose of finding style phenomena which appear directly from the system of language, from the speaker’s (or writer’s) experience of its possibilities. Language comprises not only elementary units (morphemes and words), but complex syntactic patterns, including paragraphs and structures of whole texts as well.

Style, as the set of specific features, differentiates a group of homogeneous texts or an individual text from all other groups (or other texts). On the whole, whatever text we analyze, we generally find in it linguistic units that could be used practically in any text – non-specific units. Besides, we observe in it such units as can be found in certain other texts of similar character – relatively specific units. Finally there are units that belong exclusively to the text under consideration – absolutely specific units.

2. Stylistic analysis in linguistics refers to the identification of patterns used in speech and writing. Stylistic analysis is a normal part of literary studies. It is practised as a part of understanding the possible meanings in a text. An extremely detailed and scrupulous attention is paid to the text.

It is generally assumed that the process of analysis will reveal the good qualities of the writing. Take for example the opening lines of Shakespeare's Richard III:

Now is the winter of our discontent 
Made by this glorious summer sun of York; A stylistic analysis might reveal the following points:

• the play is written in poetic blank verse, that is – unrhymed, iambic pentameters
• the first line is built on a metaphor: 1) the condition of England is described in terms of the season 'winter', 2) the seasonal metaphor is extended into the second line  where better conditions become 'summer'
• the metaphor is extended even further by the term 'sun', it is the sun which appears, 'causing' the summer
• but 'sun' is here also a pun - on the term 'son' which refers to the son of the King
• 'York' is a metonymic reference to the Duke of York

3. Stylistic analysis of an extract from Th. Dreiser’s short story “Typhoon”

“Into a singularly restricted and indifferent environment Ida Zobel was born. Her mother, a severe, prim German woman, died when she was only three, leaving her to the care of her father and his sister, both extremely reserved and orderly persons.

Later, after Ida had reached the age of ten, William Zobel took unto himself a second wife, who resembled Zobel and his first wife in their respect for labour and order. Both were at odds with the brash gayety and looseness of the American world in which they found themselves. Being narrow, sober, workaday Germans, they were annoyed by the groups of restless, seeking, eager, and as Zobel saw it rather scandalous men and women who paraded the neighbourhood streets of an evening without a single thought apparently other than pleasure. And these young scamps and their girl friends who sped about in automobiles. The loose indifferent parents. What was to become of such a nation? Were not the daily newspapers, which he would scarcely tolerate in his home longer, full of these wretched doings?

The pictures of almost naked women, that filled them all! Jazz! Petting parties! High school boys with flasks on their hips! Girls with skirts to their knees, rolled-down stockings, rolled-down neckbands, bare arms, bobbed hair, no decent, concealing underwear!”

This extract is an example of belles-lettres style, its substyle – emotive prose. The narration begins with partial inversion, promoting the adverbial modifier of place (Into a singularly restricted and indifferent environment) into the first position, thus adding the importance to the indication of the place of action. There are two epithets in it (restricted  and restricted ) one of which has an intensifier (restricted).

All four epithets in the second sentence appear in apposition (severe, prim, extremely reserved, orderly) which gives them additional emphasis.

The next sentence, also partially inverted, begins with two detachments, separating both adverbial modifiers of time by commas (Later, after Ida had reached the age of ten). It helps to draw the reader’s attention to the time, place and manner of action, makes the reader believe that the narrated events actually took place in real life.

The epithet brash offers the first indication of the Zobels’ world-outlook. Two contrasting strings of epithets (narrow, sober, workaday - restless, seeking, eager - rather scandalous ) characterize the two opposing parties – the Zobels and the young society. The subjectivity of Zobel’s evaluations is stressed by two parentheses (as Zobel saw it, apparently). as Zobel saw it is used in the function of the author’s remark, introducing the opinion of the character in the form of his represented speech.

Two elliptical sentences (And these young scamps and their girl friends who sped about in automobiles. The loose indifferent parents.) are followed by several rhetorical questions (What was to become of such a nation? Were not the daily newspapers, which he would scarcely tolerate in his home longer, full of these wretched doings?) addressed to nobody in particular and answered by the questioner himself. And then again a number of highly-emphatic exclamatory sentences, mainly one-member and even one word – ellipsis (The pictures of almost naked women, that filled them all! Jazz! Petting parties! High school boys with flasks on their hips! Girls with skirts to their knees, rolled-down stockings, rolled-down neckbands, bare arms, bobbed hair, no decent, concealing underwear!).

Besides there are also repetitions (rolled-down stockings, rolled-down neckbands), hyperboles (without a single thought, filled them all ) which serve to express strong emotions.

4.  It has long been known that when exposed to light under suitable conditions of temperature and moisture, the green parts of plants use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen to it. These exchanges are the opposite of those, which occur in respiration. The process is called photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water by the chloroplasts of plant cells in the presence of light. Oxygen is the product of the reaction. For each molecule of carbon dioxide used, one molecule of oxygen is released.

It’s an example of scientific prose style. The branch of science is biology. That’s why the language means are objective, precise, unemotional, avoid of any individuality.

The vocabulary used is neutral with plenty of terms (carbon dioxide, oxygen, respiration, photosynthesis, carbohydrates, chloroplasts, molecule, plant cells). The words are used in their primary logical meaning.

This paragraph is logically arranged. It has a key sentence placed at the beginning (It has long been known that when exposed to light under suitable conditions of temperature and moisture, the green parts of plants use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen to it.). Word order of the sentences is mostly direct, connective words are used to emphasize the logical connection (that, which ).

Impersonality is stressed by the used of passive constructions (It has long been known, is called, are synthesized, is released).

Among other stylistic devices used in this paragraph there id a case of detachment (In photosynthesis) serving to attract the reader’s attention to the definition of the process.

(Kukharenko V. Seminars in Style. – M., 1971.)