Stylistic Lexicology of the English Language Lecture on

Stylistic Lexicology of the English Language Lecture on English Stylistics 4 th year of study N. P. Izotova

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 1. 2. 3. Word Meaning as a Linguistic Phenomenon. Stylistics of Connotation: Approaches and Types. Stylistic classification of the English vocabulary as a system.

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 4. Three main layers of the vocabulary: neutral words, literary lexis, colloquial strata. 5. Phraseology and its stylistic use.

References and Related Literature 1. Мороховский А. Н. , Воробьева О. П. , Лихошерст Н. И. , Тимошенко З. В. Стилистика английского языка. – К. , 1991. 2. Арнольд И. В. Стилистика современного английского языка. – Л. , 2004. 3. Гальперин И. Р. Стилистика английского языка. – М. , 1981. 4. Ивашкин М. П. Практикум по стилистике английского языка: учеб. пос. / М. П. Ивашкин, В. В. Сдобников, А. В. Селяев. – М. : АСТ : Восток – Запад, 2007. 5. Єфімов Л. П. Стилістика англійської мови і дискурсивний аналіз. Учбово-методичний посібник. – Вінниця: «Нова книга» , 2004.

References and Related Literature 6. Kukharenko V. A. Seminars in Stylistics. – M. : Флинта, 2010. 7. Скребнев Ю. М. Основы стилистики английского язика: Учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. – 2 -е изд. – М. , 2003. 8. Методичні вказівки до семінарських та практичних занять із стилістики англійської мови для студентів IV курсу / Уклад. О. П. Воробйова, Л. Ф. Бойцан, Л. В. Ганецька, О. Ю. Дубенко, І. О. Іноземцева, Л. Р. Чеботарьова, Л. Д. Якимчук. – К. : КДЛУ, 1996 (1997). 9. Shakhovsky V. I. English Stylistics: учеб. пос. – М. : Изд-во ЛКИб 2008. 10. Sipmpson P. Stylistics. A recourse book for students. – L. , N. Y. : Routledge, 2004.

“When I use a word”, Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose to mean neither more or less. ”

What a word means is influenced by: 1. The shift of meanings over time: e. g. chauvinist (Paul Simpson)

Chauvinist Official meaning: “someone who is distrustful of foreigners”, “a person displaying aggressive or exaggerated patriotism” (Oxford Dictionary of English) Popular usage: “a person displaying excessive or prejudiced loyalty or support for a particular cause, group, or gender”: “What a mail chauvinist that man is” (The New Oxford American Dictionary)

What a word means is influenced by: 2. A meaning of a particular word may vary in relation to the context in which it is used. E. g. terrific (Paul Simpson)

Terrific Archaic usage: ‘causing terror’, ‘instantly terror’ Current usage: 1) “That film was absolutely terrific” (extremely good; excellent) 2) “Terrific! You have just erased all my data from the computer!”

What a word means is influenced by: 3) The cross-cultural differences that may pertain between users of the same language.

What a word means is influenced by: 4) pairs of words of English display seemingly identical meaning. E. g. brotherly and fraternal.

MEANING a certain reflection in our mind of objects, phenomena or relations that makes part of the linguistic sign (Гінзбург Р. З. , Хідекель С. С. , та ін. )

WORD MEANING constant relations between the object (as a referent or an idea about a referent), the notion named and the name itself: its sound form and contents, or the reflection of the object or notion in our mind. (V. I. Shakhovsky)

WORD MEANING GRAMMATICAL CONNOTATIVE LEXICAL DENOTATIVE STYLISTIC expressive EMOTIVE EVALUATIVE

DENOTATIVE MEANING represents the most important aspect of communication because it refers to the notional basis of information conveyed by the speaker to the listener; §

DENOTATIVE MEANING establishes correlation between the name (word) and the object, phenomenon, process or qualification of concrete reality or thought as such, which is detonated by the word; § § makes the communication possible.

CONNOTATIVE MEANING Is of an extra-linguistic nature; § Conveys information about the situation and the participants of communication; § Does not exist independently of denotation but simultaneously with it; § Every components represents a specific layer of cognition. §

CONNOTATIVE MEANING: Components Emotive (reveals the emotional layer of cognition and perception; expresses the speaker’s emotional attitude to the denotatum). 1) e. g. Poet – rhymester, poetaster When will this filthy weather break? The rain are late” (G. Greene The Heart of the Matter) “She sounds a bit of a swine”, the boy said. Oh! Hell! Damn! Bloody!

CONNOTATIVE MEANING: Components 2) Evaluative (conveys the value of the indicated notion). e. g. The concept “dwelling” is represented: slum, house, building, barrack, hut, mansion, palace, etc. e. g. brat = an annoying, ill-behaving child; ruffian = brutal violent lawless person; duffer = indecent person.

CONNOTATIVE MEANING: Components 3) Expressive (aims at intensification of the meaning – both emotional and logical; it either increases or decreases the expressiveness of the language). e. g. pig-headed – ‘very stubborn and obstinate’ alive and kicking – ‘healthy, in good condition’ huge is ‘large + extremely + enormous’

CONNOTATIVE MEANING: Components 4) Stylistic (indicates the situation of communication; points to the sphere of the word application ). e. g. Yonder, slumber, thence – poetic or elevated writing. Price index, negotiate assets – business language.

Stylistic component of connotation is a coded information of: § sphere of communication § functional style of the language § social belongings scientific, etc. ); (colloquial, official, professional, journalistic, etc); ( belles-letter, scientific, § (slang, dialect, jargon, etc. ; temporal characteristics (archaisms, neologisms, historical words, occasionalisms); § language passport of the speaker § emotional state of the speaker. (his age, cultural & educational level, social states and profession or occupation);

n AND, BE, HAVE, IT, OF, THE, TO, WILL, YOU. n statuesque, theurgy, viviparous

Stylistic Differentiation of English n NEUTRAL n LITERARY n COLLOQUIAL

NEUTRAL WORDS n Possess no stylistic connotation; n Suitable for any communicative situation (can be employed in all styles of language and all spheres of human activity)

LITERARY STRATA 1. Common literary words (words mainly used in written and polished speech); 2. Special literary vocabulary: n terms and learned words; n poetic words; n archaic words; n barbarisms and foreign words; n literary coinages including nonce-words. (I. R. Galperin)

BOOKISH (LEARNED) WORDS A young lady home from school was explaining: “Take, an egg, ” she said, “and make a preparation in the base and a corresponding one in the apex. Then apply the lips to the aperture, and by forcibly inhaling the breath the shell is entirely discharged of its content. ” An old lady who was listening exclaimed: “It beats all how folks do things nowadays. When I was a gal they made a hole in each end and sucked. ” (Skrebnev 2003, p. 64)

Archaisms n n n “historical archaisms” - archaic words denoting historical phenomena no more in use (yeoman, vassal, falconet) historical words poetic words (steed for horse, woe for sorrow) “material archaisms” – archaic words proper (ousted by newer synonymic words or forms): to deem to think; nay no; brethren brothers; thou wilt you will

ARCHAISMS Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching! (G. Byron) §heretofore, hereunto, thereo, wherefore §

FOREIGN WORDS § “It is a well, mon ami, that we have no affairs of moment on hand” (A. Christie) § “Why don’t you like those cousins, Father? ” Soames lifted the corner of his lip. “What made you think of that? ” “Cela ce voit. ” “That sees itself! What a way of putting it” (Galsworthy)

FOREIGN WORDS “Car is kaput, ” says my father. “You mend car, ” she snaps. Then remembering she is supposed to be nice to him, she bends forward and pats his cheek. “Mr. Engineer. ” Mr. Engineer draws himself up to his full crooked height. “Rolls-Royce kaput. Lada kaput. Soon Rover kaput. Only walking is not kaput. Ha ha. ” “Soon you kaput, ” says Valentina. Then she catches my eye and gives a little laugh as if to say, Only joking. ” (The History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka)

BORROWINGS – words which came into the vocabulary of one language from another and were assimilated by the new language. e. g. regime, routine, police, machine, ballet, matinee, scene, technique, bourgeois.

BARBARISMS – words of foreign origin which have not been entirely assimilated into the English language preserving their former spelling and pronunciation. e. g. She had been charmed. It was so chic. (Galsworthy) § e. g. Chic, chagrin, en passant §

EXOTIC WORDS – borrowed foreign words denoting objects characteristic of a certain country. e. g. squaw, moccasin, matador.

Literary Coinages n Terminological n Stylistic coinages; coinages.

Nonce-words ‘He had a clean-cravatish formality of manner and kitchen pokerness of carriage’ (Ch. Dickens) e. g. Her nose was red and dew-droppy. She was too…Jack-in-the-boxy. ’ (Aldington)

Colloquial Vocabulary 1. 2. § n n n general (common) colloquial words; Special colloquial words: slang; jargonisms; professional words; dialectal words; vulgar words; colloquial coinages. (I. R. Galperin)

GENERAL COLLOQUIAL WORDS n Colloquial words proper (colloquial substitutes of neutral words), e. g. : chap (‘fellow’), chunk (‘lamp’), drifter (‘a person without a steady job’) n Phonetic variants of neutral words: baccy (tobacco), fella (fellow);

GENERAL COLLOQUIAL WORDS of neutral words: daddy, piggy, as well as diminutives of proper names – Bobby, Becky, Johny. n Diminutives n Most interjections belong to the colloquial sphere: e. g. : gee! Er? , Well

GENERAL COLLOQUIAL WORDS n Words the primary meaning of which refer them to neutral sphere while the figurative meaning places them outside the neutral sphere, making them lightly colloquial, e. g. : spoon as a colloquial word means “a man with a low mentality”;

JARGON WORDS Professional jargonisms: e. g. picture show is current – ‘battle’ dog robber – ‘orderly’ n Social jargonisms: e. g. big gun – ‘an important person n (Y. M. Screbnev)

CANT – a secret lingo of the underworld n Ain’t a lifer, not him! Got a stretch in stir for pulling a leather up in Chi (Skrebnev, 67)

SLANG § E. g. ‘Now, listen’, he said, ‘I ain’t the kind of joker going to give you a hard time running around after other chicks and shit like that’ § E. g. The put me in this little cell with about four or five other cats. (Baldwin)

SLANG FOOD: chuck, chow, grub, hash; n MONEY: jack, tin, brass, oof, slippery stuff; n SKIRT (‘girl’) metonymy n KILLING (‘astonishing’) – hyperbole n CLEAR AS MOOD - irony n

VULGAR WORDS n lexical vulgarisms n stylistic vulgarisms

VULGAR WORDS e. g. ‘And you stop that bloody game. I’m talking to you. You are bloody helpless. And you can start getting bloody well dressed before you come down in the morning’ e. g. He would have to give Murphy to stop calling him that little punk (I. Show)

Interaction of Stylistically Coloured Words and The Context 1) An elevated word placed in a stylistically neutral context imparts the latter a general colouring of elevation, i. e. makes the whole utterance solemn or poetic, provided the subject of speech is consistent with the stylistic coloring of elevation.

Interaction of Stylistically Coloured Words and The Context 2) An elevated word in a context produces an effect of comicality if the subject of speech or the situation is inconsistent with elevated coloring. 3) Colloquial words in a neutral context lower the stylistic value of the whole. 4) Colloquial words in a literary context or viceversa produces a comic effect.

PHRASEOLOGICAL UNIT – is a stable combination of words with a fully or partially figurative meaning (Kunin, 1970) Two inherent properties of PUs: § Stability § Figurative meaning

PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS n n "Frank was far more sinned against than sinning" (Dreiser); He's young and I have no doubt he wants to sow his wild oats before he settles down to married life (S Maugham); Walter knew which side his bread was buttered (S. Maugham); It may be that like most of us he wanted to eat his cake and have it (S. Maugham. )

Set phrases with their ‘translations’ devoid of phraseology. 1. Come on, Roy, let’s go and shake the dust of this place for good (Aldridge) Cf. …let us go and leave this place forever 2. By hook or by crook she must and would get him! (Galsworthy) Cf. She must and would get him by any means.

STYLISTIC TRANSFORMATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS n n Expansion Reduction (compression of proverbs, sayings, quotations, etc. ) Inversion of the components (the change of the Ph. U structure while the original components are preserved) Contextual transposition (reconsideration and reinterpretation of Ph. U in context)

Expansion CURIOSITY CAN DO MORE THINGS THAN KILL A CAT; AND IF EMOTIONS, WELL RECOGNIZED AS FEMININE, ARE INIMICAL TO FELINE LIFE, THAN JEALOUSY WOULD SOON LEAVE THE WHOLE WORLD CATLESS (O’Henry)

Reduction AND WHEN HE CAME UPON ANOTHER POLICEMAN LOUNGING GRANDLY IN FRONT OF A TRANSPLENDENT THEATRE HE CAUGHT AT THE IMMEDIATE STRAW OF "DISORDERLY CONDUCT“(O’Henry)

Inversion of the components 'Don’t think of it , Vandy'', he replied. '' We are short, and Art is long'‘ (O’Henry)

Contextual transposition ''<…> sometimes I’m tempted to pay this Philistine his ten dollars and get rid of him ' (O’Henry) YOU KNOW THAT KIND OF YOUNG FELLOWS A KIND OF A MIXTURE OF FOOLS AND ANGELS - THEY RUSH IN AND FEAR TO TREAD AT THE SAME TIME; BUT THEY NEVER FAIL TO TREAD WHEN THEY GET THE CHANCE (O’Henry)