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LECTURE VII
SYNTACTICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES
Compositional Patterns of Syntactical Arrangement
Problems for discussion:
1.Stylistic inversion
2.ParallelConstructions
3.Repetition
4.Enumeration
a) Stylistic Inversion
Word order has peculiarities in many languages. So, the direct word order in Modern English is a well-known fact for everybody. This word order is considered to be neutral and deprived of any stylistic information. But according to the writers aim the word order may be changed in the sentence after which the emphasis springs up. Thus the violation of the traditional word order of the sentence (subject - predicate - object - adverbial modifier) which does not alter the meaning of the sentence only giving it an additional emotional colouring is called stylistic inversion. For example: "Rude am I in my speech". (Shakespeare) - the speech is emphasized.
Stylistic inversion in Modern English should not regarded as a violation of the norms of standard English. It is only the practical realization of the potential possibilities of the language.
Stylistic inversion is used to single out some parts of the sentence and sometimes to heighten the emotional tension.
"Suddenly the door opened and entered the Baron. Followed a complete and deathlike silence". (Mansfield)
Stylistic inversion is realized in the following widely used patterns:
The object is at the beginning of the sentence:
a) a direct object. E.g.: "Poems he wanted to enjoy". (O. Wilde);
b) an indirect object. E.g.: "This question he did not answer". (O. Wilde); ^Talent Mr. Micawber has, capital Mr. Micawber has not". (Dickens);
c) the prepositional object stands before the subject. E.g.: "Of her father Gertrude knew even less". (S. Lea-cock).
The attribute is placed after the word it modifies:
With fingers weary and worn. (The Hood)
The predicative is placed before the subject:
And very melancholy work it was; Beautiful these donkeys were. (J. Galsworthy)
The predicative is placed before the link verb and both are placed before the subject.
Strange is the heart of woman. (S. Leacock)
The adverbial modifier is at the beginning of the sentence. The subject becomes especially emphatic:
Among them stood tulips. (R. Aldington)
The modifier and predicate stand before the subject.
Down went the heap of struggling men against. (H. Wells)
In this case we have an emphatic construction, if the word order is traditional the construction is unemphatic.
Simple verbal predicate also serves to lay the emphatic stress on the subject:
Came frightful days of snow and rain. (J. London).
In compound sentences emphasis can be expressed when subordinate clauses stand at the beginning of the sentence:
From some chimney opposite a thin wreathe of smoke was rising. (O. Wilde)
Parallel Constructions
Constructions formed by the same syntactical pattern, closely following one another present the stylistic device of parallelisms. E.g.:
1. Talent Mr. Micawber has, capital Mr. Mic-awber has not. (Dickens)
2. Nostrils wide, ...his senses picked up something alien in the atmosphere. Naked body, ...his dark eyes searched the distance. (Prichard)
Parallel is strongly affects the rhythmical organization of the paragraph, so it is imminent in oratorical speech:
"The pulsating of Malay camp at night was everywhere. People sung. People cried. People fought. People loved. People hated. Others sad. Others gay. Others with friends. Others lonely. Some were born. Some died/' (P. Abrahams)
Parallelism can be completed when the construction of the second sentence rally copies that of the first one:
"The sky was dark and gloomy, the air damp and raw, the streets wet and sloppy." (Dickens)
The ellipsis in the example is repeated completely. Parallelism can be partial when only the beginning or the end of several sentences are structurally similar:
"Men's talk was better than women's... Not the state of the house but the state of the Army. Not the children next door but the rebels in France. Not what
broke the china but who broke the treaty. Not what spoiled the washing but who spilled the beans..." (Du Maurier)
Here only the frame of successive sentences remains unchanged: not the...but" while the structure of each separate sentence is independent from its neighbours.
In a vast quantity of cases parallelism is strengthened by repetition or antithesis.
Parallel constructions are used in different styles with different stylistic functions. In belles-lettres style it carries an emotive function.
It is also used as a means in building up other stylistic devices, in particular antithesis and climax.
There are two main functions of parallel constructions: semantic and structural. The first construction implies either equal semantic significance or opposition of the repeated parts. The second implies a rhythmical design to the parts of the parallel construction.
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