- •1. Stylistic as a branch of science. Subjects, methods, related research and the differences between them.
- •2. The notion of style.
- •3. The notion of stylistic markedness
- •6.Expressive means and stylistic devices.
- •4. Expressiveness, evaluation, emotiveness.
- •5. The notion of variation. Variation is English language.
- •7. Spoken English and Written English.
- •12. The stylistic devices of zeugma and pun.
- •9.The stylistic device of metaphor.
- •13. The stylistic devices of oxymoron and antonomasia.
- •8. The notion of stylistic function
- •14. The stylistic devices of simile and hyperbole.
- •10. The stylistic devices of metonymy and irony.
- •11. The stylistic devices of epithet.
- •16. The stylistic devices of allusion and decomposition of set phrases.
- •15. The stylistic devices of periphrasis and euphemism.
- •20. The stylistic devices of asyndeton, polysyndeton and the gap-sentence link.
- •17. The stylistic devices of inversion, chiasmus and parallel structures.
- •18. The stylistic devices of repetition, enumeration and suspense
- •38. The newspaper headline.
- •19. The stylistic devices of detached constructions, climax(gradation) and antithesis.
- •21. The stylistic devices of ellipsis, aposiopesis (break-in-the-narrative), question in the narrative.
- •22. The stylistic devices of litotes and rhetorical question.
- •24. The stylistic devices of onomatopoeia, alliteration and assonance.
- •23. Free indirect thought and free indirect speech
- •26. The stylistic classification of the English vocabulary. Special colloquial vocabulary.
- •25. The stylistic classification of the English vocabulary. Special literary vocabulary.
- •30. Poetry. The notion of poetic conventions. Types of poetic conventions.
- •27. The notion of functional style. Approaches to the research into functional style. Classifications of fs.
- •29. Emotive prose.
- •28. The belles-lettres style
- •33. The language of drama
- •31. Rhyme, metre and rhythm.
- •35. The style of scientific discourse.
- •32. Lexical and syntactical features of poetry.
- •34. Publicist style.
- •36. The style of official documents.
- •37. The style of mass communication. The British Newspaper style.
22. The stylistic devices of litotes and rhetorical question.
Litotes & rhetorical Q. Every syntactical structure has its definite function, which is smt called its structural m-ing. Among syntactical stylistic devices there are two in which this transference of struct.m-ing is to be seen. The rhetorical q-n is a special synt styl device the essence of which consists in reshaping the grammatical m-ing of the interrogative s-ce. The q-n here is no longer a q-n but a statement expressed in the form of an interrogative s-ce. There is an interplay of 2 struct.m-ings 1) that of the q-n & 2) that of the statement (either affirmative or interr-ve). Both are materialized simultaneously. Negative-interr s-ces generally have a peculiar nature. There is always an additional shade of m-ing implied in them: smt doubt, smt assertion, smt suggestion. They are full of emotive m-ing & modality. !!!Both the q-n m-ing & the statement m-ing are materialized with an emotional charge, the weight of which can be judged by the intonation of the speaker. The int-n of rhet.q-ns differs materially from the int-n of ordinary q-ns (double nature). Litotes is a styl device consisting of peculiar use of negative constr-ns. The negation + N/Adj serves to establish a positive feature in a person or a thing. However this positive m-ing is diminished in quality as compared with a synonymous expression making an assertion of the positive feature. Still we cannot say that the 2 negative constr-s produce a lesser effect than the corresponding affirmative ones. They have an additional connotation => they are regarded as stylistic devices. The negatives NO & NOT are more emphatically pronounced than in ordinary negative s-ces, thus bringing in mind the corresponding antonym. The stylistic effect of litotes depends mainly on intonation. A variant of litotes is a constr-n with 2 negations, as in ‘not unlike, not unpromising, not displeased’ & the like. Litotes is used in different styles of speech excluding official style & scientific prose.
Rhetorical question presents a statement in the form of a question. A question appealing to the reader for an answer, is emphatic and mobilizes the attention of the reader even when the latter is not supposed to answer anything, when the only possible answer is implied within the boundaries of the question. The form of a rhetorical question is often negative.
Rhetorical question preserves the intonation of a question, though sometimes the assertive sentiment is so strong that both the intonation and the punctuation are changed to those of the exclamatory sentence. Rhetorical question is an indispensable element of oratorical style, but is not confined to it only, more and more penetrating into other style. So it is widely employed in modern fiction for depicting the inner state of a personage, his meditations and reflections.
Through frequent usage some rhetorical questions became traditional (for example, What business is it of yours? What have I to do with him? etc.) Such questions usually imply a negative answer and reflect a strongly antagonistic attitude of the speaker towards his interlocutor or the subject discussed. e.g. Can anybody answer for all the grievances of the poor in this wicked world?
Litotes presents a statement in the form of a negation. The stylistic device of litotes is used to weaken the positive characteristics of a thing or phenomenon. It is based upon discrepancy between the syntactical form, which is negative and the meaning which is positive. E.g. “She said it, but not impatiently” We have here an assertion of a certain positive fact but its form is negative. The obligatory presence of the particle “not” makes the statement less categorical and conveys certain doubts of the speaker as to the quality he mentions. The structure of litotes is rather rigid: its first element is always the negative particle “not” and its second element is, too, always negative in meaning, if not in form. If the second element of litotes is expressed by an adjective or adverb, it has as a rule a negative affix. If the form of a noun or a word-combination, presenting the second component of litotes is not negative, its negative meaning is implied.
The final result of litotes is always the assertion of a positive, though weakened quality or characteristics. e.g. She said it, but not impatiently.