14. Lexico-syntactical stylistic devices

LSSD: there are certain structures that emphasis depends not only on the arrangement of the sentence members but also on their construction with definite demands on the lexical-semantic aspect of the utterance.

Antithesis is a figure of speech based on opposition or contrast of ideas, expressed by parallelism of strongly contrasted words placed at the beginning and at the end of the sentence or clause. It is often based on the use of antonyms.

Too brief from our passion, too long for our peace.

*Climax is a figure based on such arrangement of part of an utterance which secures a gradual increase of semantic significance or emotional tension.

*Anticlimax is a figure based on such arrangement of part of an utterance which secures a gradual increase of semantic significance or emotional tension. It is aimed at destroying the effect achieved by climax.

Simile is imaginated comparison of 2 unlike objects belonging to different clauses. It consists of 2 semantic parts (poles) which are connected by one of a following link-words: like, as, as like, as…as, such as, as if, seem. Two objects are compared on the grounds of similarity of some quality. If the link between members is expressed by notional verb (resemble, look, seem) is called disguised.

Litotes is a two-component structure in which 2 negations are joined to give positive evaluation. The first component is always the negative particle not, while the second is always negative in semantics.

Her face was not unpretty.

Periphrasis: is a very specific (peculiar) SD which basically consists of using round about form of expression instead of a simple one.

Figurative p. is based on metonymy oк metaphor – root of evil (money), young blood (enthusiasm).

Logical p. is based on the logical connotation of the periphrasis and in the specific features of the object – strong/weak sex.

15. The theory of intonation

It is the variation of tone used when speaking. There is no perfect definitioin but:

Intonation is used unconsciously by native speakers;

Armstrong&Ward: it is the rises and the falls of the pitch of the voice.

Intonational language uses it syntactically to convey surprise&irony or to change a statement to a question (Russian, English).

Tonal language – to convey meaning, the syllabic are contrasted by pitch (Chinese).

Procody is embraced all the components of intonation and substitutes intonation. Every utterance together with its syllabic&phonemic structure has the certain procodic structure:

1. On the perception level Int is a complex formed by significant variations of pitch, loudness&tempo.

2. On the acoustic level pitch correlates with the fundamental frequency of the vibrations of the vocal cords; loudness correlates with the amplitude of the vibrations; tempo correlates with the time during which a speech unit lasts.

3. On the auditory level it is a unity of speech melody, sentence stress, the timbre of the speech which serves to express the speaker’s idea, will, emotional attitude.

American phoneticians: Int = melody + tone.

British (Palmer, Frees, Kingdom): Int = melody + stress.

Russian (Васильев): melody, sentence stress, timbre, tempo.

Melody (tone) is the rise and fall of the pitch of the voice in the process of speaking.

Falling => finality; rising => non-finality.

Sentence stress is a some prominent given to a syllable, word(s) in a sentence.

Usually stressed:

N, Adj, Num, notional V

Isn’t, wasn’t, hasn’t

Negative indefinite pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns in some cases

Interrogative pronouns (who, where…)

Absolute form of possessive pronoun

Just, only, also, too

Usually unstressed:

Pronouns (personal, possessive, reflexive, indefinite)

Auxiliary v

Articles, particles, conjunctions

Rhythm is a kind of framework of speech organization, depends on the language. Basic rhythmic unit is a rhythmic group.

Tempo is the rate of the utterance & pausation. It can be slow, normal, fast. Pauses can be syntactic, emphatic, hesitational.

Syntagm is a sense group. Щерба: it is a word-group organized syntactically&phonetically to express a thought unit.

Structural characteristics (Gramont, Виноградов):

Prehead – unstressed or partially stressed syllables that precede the first strong syllables (types: low, high).

Head – the first stressed syllables which end before the nucleus tone (types: descending-stepping scale, sliding scale…)

Nucleus (terminal) – usually on semantically important words or on the last stressed syllables (low-fall, low-rise, rise-fall, fall-rise, high-wide falling…)

Tail – finally unstressed syllables.

Rising – enumeration, the sense isn’t complete, general question, polite request, greeting or remarks.

Falling – statement, special questions, exclamations, orders, commands.

Functions of intonations:

Organize a sentence;

Determines communicative types of sentence;

Divide a sentence into intonation groups;

Expresses contrasts and attitude.

Tone groups are syntagms which are formed according to some pattern.