8. Graphic means in stylistics

They serve to convey in the written form those emotions which in the oral type of speech are expressed by intonation and stress. We refer here to emphatic use of punctuation and deliberate change of the spelling of a word. What is meant is such a sd as multiplication. It means that a definite letter is used many times. Hyphenation and space letters. The main stylistic functions are to reflect or underline the emphatic intonation of the speaker; to indicate an additional stress on the emphasized word or part of the word.

A graphon is a violation of the accepted spelling.

Exclamatory and interrogative marks (irony, indignation)

Emotional pauses – dash and suspense marks (uncertainty, embarrassment).

Dots cut a text into short sentences – dynamics, or vice versa

Inverted commas

Capital letters (personification of common nouns)

Italics (citation, structural words)

7. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic phonetics.

Paradigmatics denotes the totality of units of which language or sublanguage has at its disposal. In other words, the units taken together make a paradigm. The term syntagmatics implies a totality or a certain number of sequences of units of chains of units following one another. Here the units do not coexist simultaneously ready to be chosen by the speaker or the writer for his communicative purposes, but on the contrary, each unit enters into combinations with its neighbours with what proceeds it and follow it.

Paradigmatics represents language as a system while syntagmatics characterizes speech as a process in its development or text which has a linear form.

An essential problem of stylistic possibilities of the choice between opyions is presented by co-existence in everyday usage of varying forms of the same word and by variability of stress within the limits of RP.

Phonetic variability of certain words is of interest in stylistic analysis. Every languga user prefers only one of the possible variants. Prosody

Aesthetic evaluation of sounds. The sounds possess a kind of expressive meaning, hence – stylistic value. The connection between form and meaning.

Sounds and sound combinations of foreign languages produce a definite or an indefinite impression upon us due to various kinds of native semantic associations. Internal qualities of sounds contribute to a very generalized evaluation. Plosives are abrupt, I is tender than u.

The essence of the stylistic value of a sound for a native speaker consists in its paradigmatic correlation with phonetically analogous lexical units of expressly positive or of expressly negative meaning.

Onomatopoeia

Syntagmatic phonetics deals with prosody and interaction of speech sounds in sequences. The term prosody denotes general suprasegmental characteristics of speech (tonality, length, force, tempo, rhythm). Alliteration is the recurrence of the same consonants or the same vowel.

6. Phonetic expressivity

The way a word, a phrase or a sentence sounds is very important. The theory of sound symbolism is based on the assumption that separate sounds due to their articulatory and acoustic properties may awake certain ideas, perceptions, feelings, images, vague though they might be. Let’s see what phonetic SDs secure this musical function:

- Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech-sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc), by people (sighing, laughter, patter of feet, etc) and by animals. Combination of speech sounds of this type will inevitably be associated with whatever produces the natural sound. Therefore the relation between onomatopoeia and the phenomenon it is supposed to represent is one of the metonymy. There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect. Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds, as ding-dong, buzz, bang, cuckoo, mew, roar, etc. Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to make the sound f the utterance an echo of its sense. It’s sometimes called “echo-writing”.

- 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. Alliteration, like most phonetic expressive means, doesn’t bear any lexical or other meaning unless we agree that a sound meaning exists as such. 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.

- Assonance is the process of vocalic alliteration, when the initial vowel sounds are repeated in close succession.

- paronomasia is co-occurrence of paronyms. Paronyms are words similar though not identical in sound, but different in meaning. Phonetically, paronomasia produces stylistic effects analogous to those of alliteration and assonance. In addition, phonetic similarity and positional neighbourhood makes the listener or reader search for semantic connection of the paronyms.

- dissonance, cacophony – unpleasantness of sound of words

5. Special colloquial vocabulary.

The colloquial words falls into the following groups: 1. common colloquial words; 2. slang; 3. jargonisms; 4. professional words; 5. dialectal words; 6. vulgar words; 7. colloquial coinages:

- The term slang is very ambiguous and obscure because it’s below the standard of present day English usage. Different points of view. Webster dic: Slang – is very informal usage of vocabulary and idioms and it is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, vivid and iphemerical than ordinary language.

Slang – speech and writing characterized by the use of vulgar and socially tabooed vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.

Slang – the jargon of a particular class, profession

Slang – is the special vocabulary of thieves, vagabonds.

The term 'slang', which is widely used in English linguistic science, should be clearly specified if it is"to be used as a term, i. e. it should refer to some definite notion and'should be definable in explicit, simple terms. Slang is nothing but a deviation from the established norm on the level of the vocabulary of the language. V. V. Vinogradov writes that one of the tasks set before the branch of linguistic science that is now called stylistics, is a thorough study of all changes in vocabulary, set phrases, grammatical constructions, their functions, an evaluation of any breaking away from the established norm, and classification of mistakes and failures in word coinage.

So broad is the term 'slang' that, according to Eric Partridge, there are many kinds of slang, e. g. Cockney, public-house, commercial, society, military, theatrical, parliamentary and others. This leads the author to believe that there is also a standard slang, the slang that is common to all those who alongside using received standard uses informal language.

Slang is the most extended and vastly developed subgroup of non-standard colloquial layer of the vocabulary. Beside separate words it includes highly figurative phraseological units. Slangisms exist on periphery of the lexical system of a given language. (go crackers). Functions: - to create speech characteristics; - turn the passage from an unemotional account into a vivid one.

- Jargonisms. Jargon is a recognized term for a group of words that exists in almost every language and whose aim is to preserve secrecy within one or another social group. Jargonisms are generally old words with entirely new meanings imposed on them. The traditional meaning of the words is immaterial, only the new, improvised meaning is of importance. Most of the jargonisms are absolutely incomprehensible to those outside the social group which has invented them. (grease – money; loaf – head; tiger hunter – a gambler). Jargonisms are social in character. They are not regional. Slang, contrary to jargon, needs no translation. It is easily understood by English-speaking community and is only regarded as something not quite regular. Jargonisms don’t always remain the possession of a given social group. Some of them migrate into other social strata and sometimes become recognized in the literary language.

- Professionalisms, as the term itself signifies, are the words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connected by common interests both at work and at home. Professionalisms are correlated to terms, but terms are coined to nominate new concepts that appear in the process of, and as a result of, technical progress and the development of science. Whereas professionalisms name anew already-existing concepts, tools or instruments, and have the typical properties of a special code. The main feature of a professionalism is its technicality. Professionalisms are special words in the non-literary layer of the English vocabulary, whereas terms are specialized group belonging to the literary layer of words. Like terms, prof. don’t allow any polysemy, they are monosemantic. (tin-fish (=submarine)) Prof-s are used in emotive prose to depict the natural speech of a character, the skillful use of a prof. will show not only the vocation of a character, but also his education, breeding, environment and sometimes even his physiology. This device is known as speech-characterization.

- Dialectal words - are those which in the process of integration of the English national language remained beyond its literary boundaries, and their use is generally confined to a definite locality. There is sometimes a difficulty in distinguishing dialectal words from colloquial ones. Some dialectal words have become so familiar in good colloquial or standard colloquial English that they are universally accepted as recognized units of the standard colloquial English. Dialectal words are only to be found in the style of emotive prose, very rarely in other styles. And even here their use is confined to the function of characterizing personalities through their speech. Dialectal words, unlike professionalisms, are confined in their use to a definite locality and most of the words deal with the everyday life of the country.

- Vulgarisms are expletives and swear words which are of an abusive character, like “damn, bloody, to hell, goddam” and, as some dictionaries state, used now as general exclamations.

Vulgarisms are obscene words. These are known as four-letter words the use of which is banned in any form of intercourse as being indecent. Vulgarisms are often used in conversation out of habit, without any thought of what they mean, or in imitation of those who use them in order not to seem old-fashioned or prudish. The function of expletives is almost the same as that of interjections, that is to express strong emotions, mainly annoyance, anger, vexation, etc. They are not to be found in any functional style of language except emotive prose.

- Colloquial coinages – are newly created words, expressions or meanings which are labeled slang in modern dictionaries (просторечие).