Stylistic Grammar. Lecture 7

1. Lecture 7. Stylistic Grammar

I. The theory of grammatical gradation.
II. Grammatical metaphor and types of grammatical
transposition.
III. Morphological stylistics. Stylistic potential of parts
of speech.
1.The stylistic power of the noun
2. The stylistic power of the article
3. The stylistic power of the pronoun
4. The adjective and its stylistic function
5. Stylistic properties of the verb
6. The expressive power of affixation

2. I. The theory of grammatical gradation

the nature of stylistic effect
the mechanism of stylistic function.
The major principle of stylistic effect:
the norm
deviation from the norm
(on different levels of the language).
Skrebnev:
traditional meaning
situational meaning

3. grammatical gradation 1

Arnold : the very essence of poetic language is
the violation of the norm (at all the levels of
the language: phonetic, graphical,
morphological, lexical, syntactical).
Though: not every deviation from the norm
results in expressiveness.
• EX.: You do not use the article with an adverb
or adjective (it would be linguistic nonsense).

4. grammatical gradation 2

Noam Chomsky: “grammatical gradation”:
Marked structures : : Unmarked structures
Grammatically correct
::
Grammatically incorrect
EX.: Решил он меня обмануть.
*Decided he me to deceive.

5. grammatical gradation 3

Semi-marked structures are formed by the
deviation from lexical and grammatical
valency.
“transposition” - a phenomenon that destroys
customary (normal, regular, standard)
valences and thus crate expressiveness.

6. II. Grammatical metaphor and types of grammatical transposition

Grammatical metaphor - the transfer of
the name from one object on to another.
(Prof. E.I.Shendels)
A grammatical form as well as a lexical unit
possesses a denotative and connotative
meaning.

7. 3 types of denotative grammatical meaning:

• 1. - reflects relations of objects in outside
EX.: singularity and plurality;
• 2. - denotes the relation of the speaker to the first
type of denotation. It shows how objective
relations are perceived by reactions to the outside
world
EX.: modality, voice, definiteness and indefiniteness;
• 3.– intralinguistic denotation - has no reference to
the extra-linguistic reality (relations among
linguistic units)
EX.: the formation of the past forms of regular and
irregular verbs.

8. grammatical metaphor

• Shendels: “grammatical metaphor is a
transposition (transfer) of a grammatical form
from one type of grammatical relation to
another”.
• Thus we deal with aredistribution of
grammatical and lexical meanings that create
new connotations.

9. 3 types of grammatical transposition:

• 1. The transposition of a certain grammar
form into a new syntactical distribution
with a resulting effect of contrast.
• EX.: “Historical present”: a verb in the Present
Indefinite form is used against the background
of the Past Indefinite narration, creating the
effect of vividness, an illusion of “presence”.

10. grammatical transposition 2

• 2. The transposition, involving
both – the lexical and grammatical
meanings.
• EX.: the use of the plural form with a abstract
or proper noun:
“The look on her face… was full of secret
resentments, and longings, and fears”.

11. grammatical transposition 3

• 3. The transposition of classifying grammatical
meanings, bringing together situationally
incompatible forms.
• EX.: the use of common noun as a proper one
= personification of inanimate objects or
antonomasia.
– Mr. Know-All, Mr. Truth, speaking names.

12. III. Morphological stylistics. Stylistic potential of parts of speech

1. The stylistic power of the noun
-is linked to the grammatical categories this part of
speech possesses: number, person, case.
The use of a singular noun instead of an
appropriate plural form (generalized, elevated
effect).
EX.: The faint fresh flame of the young year
flushes\From leaf to flower and from flower to fruit…

13. The stylistic power of the noun 2

-
The use of proper names in the plural
(unique generalizing effect).
EX.: There were numerous Aunt Millies…
-
The transposition of a common noun into
the class of proper names by attributing to it
thoughts or qualities of a human being.
- EX.: England’s mastery of seas was growing even
greater… Last year her trading rivals…

14. The stylistic power of the noun 2

The use of plural instead singular (a more
powerful description).
EX.: The clamour of waters, snows, winds, rains…
The lone and level sands stretch far away…
-
The use of plural form of an abstract noun
EX.: And on this side flourished the injustices, the
cruelties, the meannesses…

15. 2. The stylistic power of the article

-
The use of the indefinite article with a
proper name (evaluative connotations).
EX.: I’m a Marlow by birth, and we are hotblooded.
It may be charged with negative evaluative
connotation.
EX.: Besides Rain, Nan and Mrs. Prett, there was a
Mrs. Kingsley, the wife of…
A Forsyte is not an uncommon animal.

16. The stylistic power of the article 2

-
The use of the definite article with a
proper name.
EX.: She loved him. Not the Stanley whom everyone
saw, but…
-
The omission of the article before a
common noun (a maximum level of
abstraction, generalization).
EX.: Not sound, not quiver as if horse and man had
turned into metal.

17. 3. The stylistic power of the pronoun

The stylistic functions
the disparity between
the traditional and contextual meanings.
(when one pronoun is transposGrammatical
metaphor of the first type ed into the action
sphere of another pronoun).
- The use of personal pronouns WE, YOU,
THEY with reference to a single person, the
speaker (the plural of majesty).
EX.: And for that offence do we exile him hence.

18. The stylistic power of the pronoun 2

-
The plural of modesty (the author’s “we”) is used
to identify oneself with the audience at large.
EX.: My poor dear child, cried she, … is our passion unrequited
then?
-
The use of the YOU pronoun as an intensifier in
an expressive address or imperative.
EX.: Just you go in and win.
Such pronouns as ONE, YOU, WE - 2 connotations:
- “identification” of the speaker/audience
- “generalization”.

19. The stylistic power of the pronoun 3

The overuse of the I pronoun testifies to
the speaker’s egomania.
The use of the third person pronoun
instead of I or WE produces the effect of
estrangement and generalization.
-
EX.: I don’t want to write, I want to live. What does
she mean by that?
-
The use of possessive pronoun devoid of
any grammatical meaning of possession.
EX.: Watch what you are about, my man!

20. The stylistic power of the pronoun 4

-
absolute possessive form.
EX.: Well, you tell that Herman of yours to mind his
own business.
They may express: irony, sarcasm, anger, contempt, resentment, irritation.
-
The use of demonstrative pronouns devoid of
grammatical meaning of denoting.
EX.: That wonderful girl! That beauty!
These lawyers! Don’t you know they don’t eat often?
Thus, the pronouns posses a strong stylistic potential that
is realized due to the violation of the normal links with
their object of reference.

21. 4. The adjective and its stylistic functions

The only grammatical category of the English
adjective (quantitative and qualitative) is that
of comparison.
-
So when the adjectives (that are not normally
associated with comparative degree) are used with
that category they are charged with a strong
expressive power.
Ex.: Mrs. Thompson, Old Man Fellow’s housekeeper had
found him deader than a doornail…

22. The adjective and its stylistic functions 2

The commercial functional style makes a wide use
of the violation of grammatical norms to
captivate the reader’s attention.
Ex.: The orangemostest drink in the world.
-
The transposition of other parts of speech into the
adjective also creates stylistically marked pieces of
description:
Ex.: A camouflage of general suffuse and dirty-jeaned
drabness covers everybody and we merge into the
background.

23. The adjective and its stylistic functions 3

-
The use of comparative and superlative
forms with other parts of speech also conveys
humorous colouring:
Ex.: He was the most married man I’ve ever met.
-
The substantivized use of the adjective, when
it acquires the qualities of a noun such as
“solid, firm, hard, tangible”:
Ex.: The impossible had happened.

24. 5. Stylistic properties of the verb

The deviant usage of the tense, voice, aspect
forms has strong stylistic connotations and
plays an important role in creating a
metaphorical meaning.
The vivid example of the grammatical metaphor
is the use of “historical present”
(See lecture N 6).

25. Stylistic properties of the verb 2

-
Various shades of modality impart stylistically
coloured expressiveness to the utterance. The
Imperative form and the Present Indefinite
referred to the future render determination.
Ex.: Edward, let there be an end of this.
-
Continuous forms do not always express
continuity but are frequently used to convey
the emotional state of the speaker.

26. So continuous forms may express:

▫ conviction, determination, persistence
Ex.: Well, she’s never coming here again, I tell you that
straight.
▫impatience, irritation
Ex.: I didn’t mean to hurt you. – You did. You’re doing
nothing else.
▫surprise, indignation, disapproval
Ex.: Women kill me. They’re always leaving their goddam
bags out in the middle of the aisle.

27. Stylistic properties of the verb

The use of the auxiliary DO in affirmative
sentences is a notable emphatic devise.
Ex.: I don’t want to look at her. I sip my coffee as long as
possible. Then I do look at her and see that all the colour
has left her face.
• The stylistic potential of the verb is very high.
The major mechanism of creating additional
connotations is the transposition of verb forms
that brings about the appearance of
metaphors of the first and the second type.

28. 6. The expressive power of affixation

• The Russian language
has a developed system
of affixes with
evaluative expressive
meanings:
diminutive, derogatory,
endearing.
• Ex.:малый - маленький
–махонький –
малюсенький
• The English language
does not possess a
great variety of wordforming resources.

29. The expressive power of affixation

The evaluative affixes function as a remnant
of the former morphological system or as a
result of borrowings from other languages.
Ex.: piglet, girlie, lambkin, kitchenette.
Due to its French origin the suffix –ESQUE is
considered to be bookish and associated with
exquisite elevated style.
Ex.: arabesque, Romanesque, Dantesque,
Kafkaesque.

30. Most frequently used suffixes of negative evaluation are: -ARD, -STER, -ASTER, -EER or half-affix –MONGER. Ex.: drunkard,

Most frequently used suffixes of negative
evaluation are: -ARD, -STER, -ASTER, -EER or halfaffix –MONGER. Ex.: drunkard, scandal-monger.
But: great difference :
• negative affixes (in-, un-,
ir-, non-,
Ex.: irregular, non-profit)
represent objects that are
devoid of some quality or
do not exist at all
“the non-profit organization”
(positive connotations)
• evaluative derogatory
affixes
the speaker’s attitude to the
phenomenon