Graphic means

LECTURE 9. PHONETIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

Intonation and stress.
Euphony.
Rhyme.
Alliteration.
Onomatopoeia.
Assonance.
Rhythm.
Graphic means.

The Russian poet B. Pasternak says that he has “… always thought that the music of words is not an acoustic phenomenon and does not consist of the euphony of vowels and consonants taken separately. It results from the correlation of the meaning of the utterance with its sound”.

Stylistic phonetics studies the ways of employment of sounds of speech for expressive aids. Phonetical expressive means serve to provoke a certain effect, giving prominence to the utterance and arousing emotions in the reader.

Intonation and stress

Intonation and stress are very important means in oral speech where they are expressed directly by the speaker. In written speech they are conveyed indirectly by graphical expressive means and by a special syntactical arrangement of utterance (such as inversion, isolated members, parallel construction, etc. ).

Euphony

Euphony is such a combination of words and such an arrangement of utterance which produces a pleasing acoustic effect, that is a pleasing effect on the ear. Euphony is generally achieved by such phonetic stylistic devices as alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhythm, rhyme.

Euphony – is used mainly in poetry to cause emotional or pleasing effect on the reader, to focus the reader’s attention on the rhyming words: long, long, afterwards in an oak, I found the arrow still unbroke… Artistic and pleasing effect is produced. The effect is based on the prevalence of vowels (diphthongs, long vowels), sonorants, voiced consonants. In prose some sound arrangement may produce ironic effect.

Rhyme

Rhyme – is the repetition of identical or similar terminal (заключительный, последний) sound combinations of words. Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding (соответствующий) lines. Full rhymes: identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sound in a stressed syllable, as in might, right; needless, heedless (небрежный). Incomplete rhymes: vowel rhymes (flesh – fresh – press) and consonant rhymes (worth – forth; tale – tool – trouble; flung – long).

Rhyme is a characteristic feature of poetry but in prose euphony final sound (ending). Such recurrence takes place at the end of a poetic line. With regard to the similarity of sounds we distinguish: full rhymes, imperfect rhymes. With regard to the structure of rhymes we distinguish: masculine (or single) rhyme, feminine (or double) rhyme, dactylic (or triple) rhyme, full double or broken rhyme. The arrangements of rhymes may assume different schemes: couplet rhyme, cross rhyme, frame rhyme. The functions of rhyme in poetry are very important: it signalizes the end of a line and marks the arrangement of lines into stanzas.

The distinctive function of rhyme is particularly felt when it occurs unexpectedly in ordinary speech or in prose. The listener’s attention is caught by the rhyme and he may lose the thread of the discourse (беседа).

Alliteration

Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in the repetition of similar sounds, in particular consonant sounds, in close succession, particularly at the beginning of successive words: " The possessive instinct never stands still. Through florescence and feud, frosts and fires it follows the laws of progression. " Therefore alliteration is generally regarded as a musical accompaniment of the author's idea, supporting it with some vague emotional atmosphere which each reader interprets for himself. Alliteration in the English language is deeply rooted in the traditions of English folklore. In Old English poetry alliteration was one of the basic principles of verse and considered, along with rhythm, to be its main characteristic. Each stressed meaningful word in a line had to begin with the same sound or combination of sounds. The repetition of the initial sounds of the stressed words in the line, as it were, integrates the utterance into a compositional unit. Unlike rhyme in modern English verse, the semantic function of which is to chain one line to another, alliteration in Old English verse was used to unite the sense within the line, leaving the relation between the lines rather loose. Alliteration is therefore sometimes called initial rhyme. The traditions of folklore are exceptionally stable and alliteration as a structural device of Old English poems and songs has shown remarkable continuity. It is frequently used as a well-tested means not only in verse but in emotive prose, in newspaper headlines, in the titles of books, in proverbs and sayings.

Alliteration – is a deliberate use of similar consonant sounds in close succession at the beginning of successive words. It’s a conventional device of E. poetry. It aims at producing a strong melodical and emotional effect, it may consolidate the sense of a phrase or a sentence fulfilling an integrating (объединяющий) function. Sometimes excessive alliteration may distract our attention from the sense: breeding, brain and beauty.

Scrooge is depicted as secret, self-contained and solitary as an oyster (A Christmas Carol, Ch. Dickens).

Book titles: “Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club” (Ch. Dickens). “Pride and Prejudice” (Jane Austin). “The Last Leaf” (O. Henry). “The School for Scandal” (Sheridan). Set expressions: last but not least; now or never; forgive and forget; house and home; good as gold; cool as a cucumber.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia /onə umə tə u’pi: ə / – is a deliberate use of words in which sounds produce an imitation of natural sounds (sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc), by things (machines or tools, etc. ), by people (sighing, laughing, pattering of feet, etc. ) and by animals. ). There are two types of onomatopoeia: direct (bang, crack, hiss, buzz) and indirect. Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds, as ding-dong, bang, mew, etc. These words have different degrees of imitative quality. Some of them immediately bring to mind whatever it is that produces the sound. Others require the exercise of a certain amount of imagination to identify it. Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense: 'And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me, filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before' (E. A. Poe) where the repetition of the sound [s] actually produces the sound of the rustling of the curtain. Indirect onomatopoeia is sometimes very effectively used by repeating words which themselves are not onomatopoetic, as in Poe's poem " The Bells" where the words tinkle and bells are distributed in the following manner:

" Silver bells... how they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle". A skilful example of onomatopoetic effect is shown by Robert Southey in his poem " How the Water Comes down at Ladore. " The title of the poem reveals the purpose of the writer. By artful combination of words ending in -ing and by the gradual increase of the number of words in successive lines, the poet achieves the desired sound effect.

" And nearing and clearing,

And falling and crawling and sprawling,

And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,

And in this way the water comes down at Ladore".

Assonance

Assonance – is a repetition of vowel sounds in neighbouring words: “Tell this soul with sorrow laden (обремененный), if within the distant Aiden, I shall clasp (обнимать) a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore – clasp a rare and radiant (лучезарный) maiden whom the angels name Lenore? …” (Edgar Allan Poe. “The Raven”).

Rhythm

Rhythm is sometimes used by the author to produce the desired stylistic effect, whereas in poetry rhythmical arrangement is a constant organic element, a natural outcome of poetic emotion. Poetic rhythm is created by the regular recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables or equal poetic lines. The regular alternations of stressed and unstressed syllables form a unit – the foot. There are 5 basic feet: iambus(a foot consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable), trochee(a foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable), dactyl(a foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables), anapest(a foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable) and amphibrach(a foot consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed and one unstressed syllable).

Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious (various) forms. The most general definition of rhythm may be expressed as follows: " Rhythm is a flow, movement, procedure, etc., characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat, or accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements or features" (Webster's New World Dictionary). Rhythm, therefore, is the main factor which brings order into the utterance. Academician V. M. Zirmunsky suggests that the concept of rhythm should be distinguished from that of metre.

Metre is any form of periodicity in verse, its kind being determined by the character and number of syllables of which it consists. It follows then that rhythm is not a mere addition to verse or emotive prose, which also has its rhythm, and it must not be regarded as possessing " phonetic autonomy amounting to an 'irrelevant texture', but has a meaning. " Permissible deviations from the given metre are called modifications of the rhythmical pattern. Some of them occur so frequently in classical verse that they become, as it were, constituents of the rhythm. It has already been pointed out that if rhythm is to be a stylistic category, one thing is required—the simultaneous " perception of two contrasting phenomena, a kind of dichotomy. Therefore rhythm in verse as an SD is defined as a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and the variations of it, variations which are governed by the standard. Rhythm reveals itself most conspicuously in music, dance and verse. We have so far dealt with verse because the properties of rhythm in language are most observable in this mode of communication.

Rhythm – is a regular alternation (чередование) of similar or equal units of speech. We must distinguish between the rhythm of poetry and the rhythm of prose. The unit of poetic rhythm is a syllable and the basis of it is metre (размер, метр, ритм в стихосложении). The unit of prosaic rhythm is a syntactical structure (a clause, a sentence or syntagm). The factors which intensify the rhythm in prose are: 1. parallel constructions; 2. homogeneous parts; 3. repetitions; 4. more or less equal length of sentences. Prosaic rhythm is changeable and every change signals the new meaning.

Graphic means

Graphic means include punctuation, different types of print (italics, bold type) and a specific arrangement of printed material. Such marks of punctuation (a series of dots, a dash, exclamation, question marks, etc. ) may be used not only to show the logical arrangement of speech but also to convey the intonation of the uttered speech and to express emphasis.

s-l-a-i-n - space-letter words (с промежутками)

laaaarge - multiplication

know – bold type (отчетливый)

“Yes, SIR! ” – capitalization

I am desperate. – italicized word (выделенный курсивом).