Stylistics routledge English Language Introductions

sound of fart
], [
sound of passing tram
]. If we look at it in this way, mimetic
precision in the string of letters is completely unnecessary, and the reader is in fact
likely to do a better job of imitating or imagining the sound required if he or she is
unhindered by the writer’s attempt to make it compatible with the normal phono-
logical properties of the English language. Difficulty in pronunciation according to
the normal rules of English may also encourage the reader’s inventiveness: strictly
speaking, for example, it is impossible to give a plosive any degree of duration, but
the doubling of 
p
in the final onomatopoeic effusion of ‘Sirens’ may suggest a contin-
uant very close to the sound represented. And most readers probably take the
unpronounceability of ‘Mrkrgnao!’ as an invitation to imitate a cat’s cry in a way less
stylised than the conventional ‘Miaow!’. In ‘Circe’ Joyce plays with the curious rela-
tionship between stage directions describing utterances and the utterances themselves,
as in the gasjet’s wailing whistle, and we might ask whether in ‘Lestrygonians’ Davy
Byrne’s yawn ‘Iiiiiichaaaaaaach!’ (8.970), which Hugh Kenner praises for its ‘deftness
of rhythmic imitation’ (Kenner 1980: 85), would even be recognised without a prior
announcement of what is coming. (When Byrne is assigned a similar string of letters
in ‘Circe’ – ‘Iiiiiiiiiaaaaaaach!’ (15. 1697) – interpretation is again aided by the stage
direction [‘
yawning
’].) At the same time, the extraordinary sequence of letters clearly
gives the reader more scope for a bravura performance and in so doing provides
greater pleasure than would a mere ‘Davy Byrne yawned loudly.’
It can be demonstrated, then, that any sense of appropriateness which an example
of nonlexical onomatopoeia may produce is not primarily the result of an unusually
close resemblance between the sounds of language and the sounds of the external
world. This being the case, it is easier to understand how the experience can be
accompanied by a heightened consciousness of the sounds of language themselves.
Indeed, the inevitable incongruity of such devices frequently intrigues and amuses
the reader, even while the letters successfully perform their referential duties.
Jakobson’s double emphasis seems justified, therefore, at least as far as nonlexical
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onomatopoeia is concerned: the series of linguistic sounds 
and
their referents receive
simultaneous, if separate, enhancement. But this pleasurable double foregrounding
is achieved by something other than the art of imitation.
ISSUES TO CONSIDER
An important point of theory to emerge from Attridge’s study is his contention that
the use even of nonlexical onomatopoeia, that most mimetic of stylistic devices, is
not of itself sufficient to represent directly the object or activity it echoes. This is
because recognition depends on a series of other in-text indicators, and even when
two important conditions – an unambiguous situating context and prior familiarity
with the sound – are met, the imitative potential remains imprecise. Attridge’s point
articulates a broad principle about stylistic analysis which was rehearsed in B4;
namely, that linguistic structures do not embody textually aspects of the ‘real world’
but instead serve as gateways to the understanding and interpretation of those texts
vis-à-vis
their relationship to the real world.
Some suggestions follow.
❏
Although his focus is principally on the style of a single literary text, much of
what Attridge says has general validity and his observations can therefore be
translated to other textual practices – this is always the test of an insightful and
far-reaching stylistic analysis. Developing this, reference was made in A4 to the
importance of sound symbolism in the ‘advertising jingle’, and this is a type of
discourse that lends it itself well to the study of both lexical and nonlexical
onomatopoeia. For example, a long-running British advertisement for a popular
stomach and headache remedy displays the dropping of two effervescent tablets
into a glass of water. In both its billboard and televisual versions, this activity is
accompanied by the written logo ‘Plink, plink, fizz’. Can you (i) identify the
types of onomatopoeic devices at work in this jingle and (ii) think of other ads
where similar stylistic techniques are used?
❏
Following from the previous suggestion, here is another advertising text (for a
local bakery) which displays an interesting sound texture:
This is the bread
To greet any guest
Because it’s the bread
That mother knows best.
Drawing on any of the relevant material offered across this thread, try to provide
an account of sound patterning, including metrical structure, in this advertising
jingle.
❏
English words which begin with ‘sl’ are often thought to be onomatopoeic
because they frequently connote an unpleasant action or thing. Can you list five
‘sl’ words that have an unpleasant feel to them? Now, can you think of any words
which begin with ‘sl’ but which do 
not
have such connotations? If you succeed
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S O U N D , S T Y L E A N D O N O M A T O P O E I A
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