МО.ТОБИС / Стил Задорнова

2) Look out* for more examples of partial phonetic similarity in the passage.

3) What homophones are used In the text In close succession? How is the effect achieved hy 'homonymic attraction' enhanced in the same sentence?

XI. THE LIBGUOSTYUSTIC AHALYSIS Off TEXTS

Linguostylistics deals not only with tropes and figures of speech, or stylistic devices proper. Generally speaking, it concerns itself with the study of ultimate units of language from the point of vi£w of c o n n o t a t i o n s , that is, those additional porperties of linguistic units which are superimposed on the semantic content proper. The study of connotations is based on a thorough investigation of the semantic structure of words. We are able to explain how this or that particular connotation is acquired by a word only if we understand its 'emic' meaning. It follows that linguostylistic

analysis includes the s e m a n t i c		and the m e t a-
s e m i o t i c	levels.

On the semantic level we regard linguistic units as such, as parts of the emic system of language. In other words, we

try to understand the general linguistic content, or nominative (direct) meanings of linguistic units. But all this is a preliminary linguistic investigation from which to pass on to the metasemiotic, or stylistic analysis proper.

When we are quite certain that we understand everything on the semantic level we are ready for the next step: analysis on the metasemiotic level. Now we analyse the ways linguistic units are used in the context, where they acquire additional, or 'meta'-content. This content has no form of its own: both

the expression and the content of a linguistic unit as it appears on the semantic level become jointly expression for the new 'meta* (metaphoric, connotative) - content. Otherwise stated,

on the metasemiotic level we study connotations which words acquire when used in a text.

The two levels, though different, cannot actually be separated from each other, for there is a constant interchange and interplay between them. The relationship between the levels is

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dialectical; the metasemiotie level is based on the semantic one, the former cannot exist without the latter; at the same time the semantic level is a kind of preliminary step. In itself it is unable to introduce us to the refinements of textual analysis.

The method of linguostylistic analysis is universal in the sense that it can be applied to all kinds of texts,, irrespective of register. Even intellective texts which, by definition, aim at passing on information pure and simple may contain a certain amount of metasemiotie utterances and are therefore analysable in terms of both levels. This method can be easily taught to undergraduate students. This simple, step- by-step methodology gives a student an idea of now to work

with the text, how by using dictionaries to distinguish between the semantics of linguistic units, or their meanings, and their metasemiotics, that is, those properties which are superimposed on the semantic content proper.

When analysing a text linguostylistically it is natural to begin with words. But it should be made clear that this kind of analysis is not confined to words, it embraces all the aspects of'language: collocations, grammatical forms, patterns of major syntax, etc. There is not a single sound, word or word-combination in a natural human language which would not lend itself to metasemiotie transformation.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

I.S-tudy -the following text from the point of view of the semantic content of words and their connotations

"She meant much to me, much more than any other human being. It was her anxiety and pain that I most dreaded. I always felt threatened by her ilnesses. I waited on her, I asked many times

a day how she was; and, in the dark room I heard her answer 'not very well, dear', I wanted to reproach her for being ill, for making the days heavy, for worrying me so much. It was her death that I feared as the ultimate gulf of disaster, She meant far more"to me than my father; yet with him I never felt a minute's awkwardness. He was amiable, absorbed in his own daydreams; he was dependent on me, even as a child, for a kind of .comic reassurance, and otherwise made no claims. He did not invade my feelings, and only wished for a response that it was innate in me to give, to him and to others, and which I began giving almost as soon as I could talk.

Рог I was not shy with people. Apart from Aunt Milly, whom at times I hated, I liked those I came into contact with; I liked pleasing them and seeing them pleased. And I liked being praised, and at that age I was eager to have my own say, show off, cut a dash. I had nothing to check my spontaneity, and, despite the calamities of my parents, I was very happy.

I could make the response that others wished for, except to my mother. I was less spontaneous with her than with anyone else, either at this time or later in my boyhood. It was long before I tried to understand it. She needed me more than any of the others needed me. She needed me with all the power of

her nature - and she was built to a larger scale than the other figures of my childhood. Built to a larger scale, for all her frailties; most of those frailties I did not see when I was

a child; when I did see them, I knew that I was too frail. She needed me. She needed me as an adult man,her son, her like,

her equal. She made her demands! without knowing it, I resisted. All I knew was that, sitting with her by the fire or at her bedside when she was ill, my quick light speech fled.from me.

I was often curt, as I should never have been to a stranger, I was often hard. Yet, away from her presence, I used to pray

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elaborately and passionately that she might become well, be happy, and gain all her desires. Of all the prayers of my childhood, those were the ones that I urged most desperately t о God " .

(C.P.Snow. Time of Hope. Ch. 4)

book up all the words in the recommended dictionaries to be sure you understand what they mean.

1)Explain the meaning of "to mean much to". Think of synonymous and antonymous expressions.

2)Show that there is semantic similarity between "to dread", "to fear" and "anxiety".

3)What does "wait on" mean, as compared for instance with "wait for"?

4)Find a synonym of "much" ("much more") in the text.

5)Explain the meaning in which "to absorb" is used

in the text. What is the nominative meaning of the verb?

6)What is meant by "make (no) claims"? How does it correlate with "make demands" used in the same text?

7)Is the meaning of "response" the same in the following contexts: "He wished for a response..." and "I could make the response that others wished for"?

8)Suggest possible synonyms of "innate" and "amiable".

9)Show that you understand what is meant by "she was built to a larger scale".

10)Explain the meanings of the phraseological units "to have one's own say" and "to cut a dash". Do they have anything in common in terms of their stylistic potentialities? Compare "to cut a dash" and "show off" from a semantic point of view.

11)What is the meaning of "curt"? Suggest several collocations with this adjective.

when you are sure you know what the words mean you can go on and look at the ways they are used in the text.

1) In what way the use of the word "gulf" in this particular text is different from its ordinary acceptation? Compare "gulf" and "abyss" from the point of view of their ability to be used metaphorically.

'J	What other words are used figuratively in the text? v

3)la it natural to say "to pray elaborately"?

4)What is achieved by bringing "comic" and "reassurance" together? Does the word "reassurance" acquire any connotation in the extract?

5)Concentrate on those units which are r6peated in the passage. Are they repeated in exactly the same meanings? Do they "assume" any additional properties when repeated by the author?

. 6) Give examples of synonymic repetition from the text. What function does it perform? -

II. Analyse the text linfiuostylistically

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"On entering the dining-room, by the orders of the individual in gaiters, Rebecca found that apartment not more cheerful than such rooms usually are, when genteel families are out of^town. The faithful chambers seem, as it were, to mourn the absence of their masters. The turky carpet has rolled itself up, and retired sulkily under the sideboard: the pictures have hidden their faces behind old sheets of brown paper: the ceiling lamp is muffled up in a dismal sack of brown holland: the window curtains have disappeared under all sorts of shabby envelopes: the marble bust of Sir Walpole Crawley is looking from its black corner at the bare boards and the oiled fire-irons, and the empty card-racks over the mantelpiece: the cellaret has lurked away behind the carpet: the chairs are turned up heads and tails along the walls:

and in the dark corner opposite the statue, is'an old-fashioned crabbed knife-box, locked and sitting on a dumb waiter.

Two kitchen chairs, and a round table, and an attenuated old poker and tongs were, however, gathered round the fireplace, as was a saucepan over a feeble sputtering fire. There was a bit of cheese and bread, and a tin candlestick on the table, and a little black porter in a tin-pot ".

(W.M.Thackeray. Vanity Pair. Ch.7)

1) Discuss the way the verbs "to mourn", "to retire", "to hide", "to disappear" are used in the text.

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2)Comment on the use of the Present Tense in the second and the third sentences of the extract.

3)What figure of speech is the third sentence based on?

4)Are the clauses of the third sentence similarly constructed in terms of Functional Sentence Perspective?

5)Bow oan you justify the division of the passage into two paragraphs?

III.THE LINQUOPOBTICS OF VERBAL ART

Linguostylistics concerns itself with the study of all kinds and varieties of oral and written texts from the point of view of c o n n o t a t i o n ^ i.e. the expressive-emotional

overtones carried both by their component parts				and globally.
L i n g u o p o e t i c s		is the study of the		c r e a t i v e
u s e	of language. Its methods		can be successfully applied
only to those texts which can be			(or have been) shown to belong

to 'verbal art' (slovesno-xudozestvennoje tvorcestvo).

When we deal with creative, imaginative writing linguostylistic analysis is only a preliminary step. If we confine ourselves to this first step and do not go any further it will mean that we make no distinction between registers, the division between which is primarily dichotomous: intellective communication vs. verbal art. >

It is generally assumed that there is something in a work of fiction which has variously been described as 'theme', '(literary) message', '(global) purport', 'metametacontent', 'idejnoje soderzanije', 'etc., i.e. w h a t the writer wants to convey to his readers. Obviously nothing can be achieved unless we understand the global purport of the text.-

But if a text is imaginative writing, a philologist should be interested not only in w h a t the writer conveys to his readers, but h o w he speaks about what he has chosen to convey - in other words, what is the l i n g u ^ o p o e - t i c s of the work of literature. Linguopoetic analysis is aimed,at appreciating the way a piece of belles-lettres is organized as a global work of art. It implies knowledge of the •vertical context' of a literary work as well as the place it

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holds among other works of literature. The ultimate aim of this kind of analysis is the nature of the aesthetic impact, the specific 1 chemistry• of the imaginative text.

When we reach the linguopoetic level we are immediately faced with the questions how do we teach linguopoetic analysis? It goes without saying that linguopoetic analysis

cannot begin unless the tejrt under investigation is sufficiently long and complete in itself; otherwise, the intention of the author will remain obscure. Besides, the text should be selected in such a way as to bring out its linguopoetic peculiarities

as clearly as possible.

The linguopoetic interpretation of the text depends on our ability to appreciate the unity of the witten and oral forms of verbal art. It has been experimentally established that when a writer (if he is an artist in the true sense of the word) is creating a text, he arranges the words and chooses syntactic constructions in accordance with a certain 'melody' or 'intonation' which conditions the lexical, syntactic and stylistic organization of the text. Prosody is not only a characteristic of oral speech, it is an inherent quality of the written text as well. Linguopoetic analysis depends to a great extent on tne ability of a oompetent, reader (or analyst) to 'hear' the prosody of the text in his 'inner' or 'mental' speech even when reading silently.

The prosody of the text is partly signalled by punctuation marks, that is, those graphic signs which were used by the author and were finally reflected in the printed text. Thus, the first thing we should learn is to read punctuation marks. At the same time we should be aware of all the syntactic relations between linguistic units, marked or unmarked by punctuation marks, or in other words, choose appropriate syntactic prosody.

The next, final, step is the l i n g u o p o e t i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of the text, which involves analysis in terms of Timbre II.

The relationship between the two kinds of analysis (the ' linguostylistic and the linguopoetic ones) is again dialectical. We can't approach a work of fiction linguopoetically unless we

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understand, it as a text, unless we are aware of all the stylistic devices and the ways the words ax-e brought tot. But if we stop at the linguostylistic level it will te a formal approach to literature which neglect» its ae?;t\ex value.

дааттсшз AND TASKS

Compuro «uid illiieuBO the two approaches to the foilowing texts

"A ttill woman, with a beautiful figure, which some member of th<* family had once compared to a heathen goddess, stood looking at these two ••fith a shadowy amile.

Her hands, gloved in French gray, were crossed one over tho other, her grave, charming face held to one side, and the eyes of all men were fastened on it. Her figure swayed, so balanced that the very air seemed to set it moving. There was warmth, but little colour, in her cheeks; her large, dark • eyes were soft. But it was at her lips - asking a question, giving an answer, with that shadowy smile - that men looked; they were sensitive lips, sensuous and sweet, and through them seemed to come warmth and perfume like the warmth and perfume of a flower "•

(J.Galsworthy. The Man of Property. Ch. I)

This is the extract where the heroine of the novel is introduced and described for the first time. Linguostylistic analysis shows that Irene's portrait abounds in words with positive inherent connotations: beautiful (figure), charming (face), balanced (figure), sweet (lips), warmth and perfume (coming through the lips). There are quite a few tropes and figures of speech: metaphors (shadowy smile); similes (a woman, compared to a heathen goddess; her figure... so balanced that the very air seemed to se't it moving; ... through them /lips/ seemed to come warmth and perfume like the warmth and perfume of a flower); repetitions(warmth... in her cheeks - warmth

and perfume of a flower).

Linguostylistic analysis, however, being too formal, cannot explain the essence of this literary character. This can be done only with the help of linguopoetic analysis. The figure of Irene is seldom shown 'directly' by the author, but through the eyes of other characters, mainly the Forsytes. Though wife of a Forsyte she remains alien to the clan and never becomes a proper member of the family. Irene was devised

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by Galsworthy as a symbol of ideal Beauty and love which disturb the security of the possessive world. That is why her character remains abstract and schematic throughout the book and devoid of psychological analysis: the reader does not know anything about Irene's thoughts, and her speech portrayal is insignificant.

It has been already said that Irene is often shown through the senses of other characters. When she is portrayed by the author, as in the extract under analysis, the narration acquires a specific, lyrical and sympathetic tone, Irene is • among those representatives of the Forsyte family who are introduced by Galsworthy one by one in the first chapter,

but her description differs drastically from those of the others. Her name is not given immediately; she is presented as "a tall woman, with a beautiful figure". This mysterious and beautiful stranger attracts the attention of all men in the room.

The description of Irene's unearthly beauty is highly •poetic'. It abounds in metaphors and similes'which call for 'lyrical' timbre: tempo is slowed down, loudness - diminished, voice may acquire a breathy quality. The passage is very

well organized rhythmically, its rhythm created by repetitions of words, the. predominance of alternating and grading rhythmical structures, the regulated alternation,pf stressed and unstressed syllables (so balanced that the very air

seemed to set it moving), alliterations and assonances (gloved- gray-grave; large, dark eyes; sensitive lips, sensuous and sweet, etc.).