- •39 Phonographical expressive means and stylistic devices Onomatopoeia
- •Alliteration
- •31 Lexical stylistic devices Metaphor
- •Antonomasia
- •Personification
- •Allegory
- •Epithet
- •Metonymy
- •Synecdoche
- •Periphrasis
- •Euphemism
- •Oxymoron
- •Antithesis
- •Climax (gradation) and anticlimax
- •35 Syntactic expressive means and stylistic devices ellipsis
- •Nominative (nominal) sentences
- •Aposiopesis (break-in-the-narrative)
- •Asyndeton
- •Parceling
- •Repetition
- •Detachment
- •Rhetoric questions
- •Other cases of syntactic transposition
- •47 Functional styles
- •17 Stylistic classification of the english vocabulary
- •Neutral, common literary and common colloquial vocabulary
- •Specific literary vocabulary
- •Special colloquial vocabulary
39 Phonographical expressive means and stylistic devices Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech sounds which aims at imitating sounds existing in the surrounding world. There are two types of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect.
Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate sounds of:
Natural phenomena: roar, rustle
Example: The leaf rustles in the bush
Things: ding-dong, burr
Example: The telephone burred several times before I picked up the receiver
People: murmur, stutter
Example: He attempted to stutter some excuses
Animals: cuckoo, twitter, buzz
Example: The birds were twittering in the grove on my way to the lake
Onomatopoeic words may have a different degree of imitative quality. Some words immediately bring to mind what or who produces the sound. Other words require a certain amount of imagination or context.
Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense. It is sometimes called "echo writing" and demands some mention of what makes the sound.
Alliteration
Alliteration is a stylistically motivated repetition of similar consonant sounds, in close succession, particularly at the beginning of successive words:
Nowadays alliteration is commonly used in:
Children’s rhymes:
Baa baa blacksheep
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, no sir.
Three bags full.
Slogans:
The daily diary of the American dream
Proverbs and sayings:
Don’t take it to heart
Titles of writings:
Pride and Prejudice
Assonance
Assonance is a stylistically motivated repetition of stressed vowels.
Assonance is commonly used in:
Children’s rhymes
Slogans: Let’s make things better
Proverbs and sayings: Don’t you be too soon. Draw in your claws
Euphony
Euphony is a pleasant combination of sounds.
Cacophony
Cacophony is an unpleasant combination of sounds:
Nor soul helps flesh now more
Than flesh helps soul.
Graphical expressive devices are represented by graphon, italics, capitalization, hyphenation and multiplication.
Graphon
Graphon is an intentional violation of the graphical shape of a word or a word combination to reflect its authentic pronunciation.
Graphon is used:
To supply the information about the speaker’s origin, social and educational background.
To emphasize the age peculiarities of the speaker.
To show the physical defects of the speakers or their emotional condition.
To convey the atmosphere of live communication.
To show dialect speech or phonetic peculiarities of a particular area.
Italics
Italics are used in the text for logical or emotional foregrounding of a word or utterance.
Capitalization
Capitalization signals for the tone rising.
Hyphenation
Hyphenation is the indicator of pausing as a result of some emotional tension (surprise, scorn)
Multiplication
Multiplication designates the intensity of speech (usually in commands)
Rhyme
Rhyme is the accord of syllables in words:
Report-support, adoring-restoring.
Rhyme is one of the chief concepts of versification. Rhyme is the sound organizer. It units lines into stanzas, emphasizes the rhythm of the poem and helps to memorize it. Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other mainly at the end of the corresponding lines. Vertically rhymes are divided into:
Adjacent (rhyme scheme /aa, bb/)
Cross (rhyme scheme /ab, ab/)
Reverse (rhyme scheme /ab, ba/)
Rhythm
Rhythm is a recurring stress pattern in poetry. It is an even alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. The foregrounding and shading caused by rhythm creates the perspective that shows the overall plot and idea of the poem.