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BELLES-LETTRES STYLE (художественный стиль)

It’s a func style. FS of language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. In Eng literary standard we distinguish the following major FS: 1) lang of belles-lettres; 2) lang of publicistic literature; 3) lang of newspapers; 4) lang of scientific prose; 5) lang of official documents.

Each FS is subdivided into a number of substyles. The belles-lettres FS has the following substyles: a) the lang style of poetry; Its first differentiating property is its orderly form, which is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances. b) the lang style of emotive prose; Apart from metre and rhyfne, what most of all distinguishes emotive prose from the poetic style is the combination of the literary variant or the language, both in words and syntax, with the colloquial, variant. c) the lang style of drama; . The first thing to be said about the parameters of this variety of belles-lettres is that, unlike poetry, which, except for ballads, in essence excludes direct speech and therefore dialogue, and unlike emotive prose, which is a combination of monologue (the author's speech) and dialogue (the speech of the characters), the language of plays is entirely dialogue.   belles-lettres style embraces numerous and many-sided genres of imaginative writing. The purpose of the belles-lettres style is not to prove but only to suggest a possible interpretation of the phenomena of life by forcing the reader to see the viewpoint of the writer. This is the cognitive function of the belles-lettres style.

Only three FS are recognized in  stylistics. As to the newspaper style, it is often regarded as part of the publicist domain and is not always treated individually. But the biggest controversy is flaming around the belles-lettres style. The unlimited possibilities of creative writing, which covers the whole of the universe and makes use of all language resources, led some scholars to the conviction that because of the liability of its contours, it can be hardly qualified as a functional style. Still others claim that, regardless of its versatility (непостоянство), the belles-lettres style, in each of its concrete representations, fulfils the aesthetic function, which fact singles this style out of others and gives grounds to recognize its systematic uniqueness.

 

 

PHONOSTYLISTIC DEVICES OF THE PARADIGMATIC LEVEL (ONOMATOPOEIA)

Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech-sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc), by things (machines or taols, etc), by people (sighing, laughter, patter of feet, etc) and by animals. There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect. Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds, as ding-dong, bang, mew, etc. These words have different degrees of imitative quality. Some of them immediately bring to mind whatever it is that produces the sound. Others require the exercise of a certain amount of imagination to identify it. Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense: 'And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain' (E. A. Poe) where the repetition of the sound [s] actually produces the sound of the rustling of the curtain. Indirect onomatopoeia is sometimes very effectively used by repeating words which themselves are not onomatopoetic, as in Poe's poem "The Bells" where the words tinkle and bells are distributed in the following manner:

"Silver bells... how they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle". A skilful example of onomatopoetic effect is shown by Robert Sou-they in his poem "How the Water Comes down at Ladore." The title of the poem reveals the purpose of the writer. By artful combination of words ending in -ing and by the gradual increase of the number of words in successive lines, the poet achieves the desired sound effect. "And nearing and clearing,

And falling and crawling and sprawling,

And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,

And in this way the water comes down at Ladore".

 

 

PUBLICISTIC STYLE: ORATORY AND SPEECHES

The publicistic style of language became discernible as a separate style in the middle of the 18th century. It also falls into three varieties, each having its own distinctive features. Unlike other styles, the publicistic style has a spoken variety, namely, the oratorical  substyle. The development of radio and television has brought into being another new spoken variety, namely, the radio and TV соmmеntary. The other two substyles are the essay (moral, philosophical, literary) and journalistic articles (political, social, economic) in newspapers, journals and magazines. The general aim of publicistic style, which makes it stand out as a separate style, is to exert a constant and deep influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article not merely through logical argumentation but through emotional appeal as well.

The oratorical style of language is the oral subdivision of the publicistic style. Direct contact with the listeners permits a combination of the syntactical, lexical and phonetic peculiarities of both the written and spoken varieties of language. In its leading features, however, oratorical style belongs to the written variety of language, though it is modified by the oral form of the utterance and the use of gestures. This style is evident in speeches on political and social problems of the day. The stylistic devices employed in oratorical style are determined by the conditions of communication. If the desire of the speaker is to rouse the audience and to keep it in suspense, he will use various traditional stylistic devices. Repetition can be regarded as the most typical stylistic device of English oratorical style. The desire of the speaker to convince and to rouse his audience results in the use of simile and metaphor, but these are generally traditional ones, as fresh and genuine stylistic devices may divert the attention of the listeners away from the main point of the speech.

 

 

 

 

LEXICAL EMs AND SDs: METONIMY

Metonymy is based on a different type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings, a relation based not on identification, but on some kind of association connecting the two concepts which these meanings represent. Thus, the word crown may stand for 'king or queen', cup or glass for 'the drink it contains'. Here also the interrelation between the dictionary and contextual meanings should stand out clearly and conspicuously. Only then can we state that a stylistic device is used. Otherwise we must turn our mind to lexicological problems, i.e. to the ways and means by which new words and meanings are coined. The examples of metonymy given above are traditional. In fact they are derivative logical meanings and therefore fixed in dictionaries. However, when such meanings are included in dictionaries, there is usually a label fig ('figurative use'). This shows that the new meaning has not replaced the primary one, but, as it were, co-exists with it. Metonymy used in language-in-action, i.e. contextual metonymy, is genuine metonymy and reveals a quite unexpected substitution of one word for another, or one concept for another, on the ground of some strong impression produced by a chance feature of the thing, for example: "Then they came in. Two of them, a man with long fair moustaches and a silent dark man... Definitely, the moustache and I had nothing in common." Metonymy and metaphor differ also in the way they are deciphered. In the process of disclosing the meaning implied in a metaphor, one image excludes the other, that is, the metaphor 'lamp' in the 'The sky lamp of the night', when deciphered, means the moon, and though there is a definite interplay of meanings, we perceive only one object, the moon. This is not the case with metonymy. Metonymy, while presenting one object to our mind, does not exclude the other. In the example given above the moustache and the man himself are both perceived by the mind. It must also be noted that metonymy, being a means of building up imagery, generally 'concerns concrete objects, which are generalized. The process of generalization is easily carried out with the help of the I definite article.

 

 

PHONOSTYLISTIC DEVICES OF THE SYNTAGMATIC LEVEL: ALLITERATION AND ASSONANCE AS RHYTHM-FORMING FIGURES OF SPEECH

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: "The possessive instinct never stands still. Through florescence and feud, frosts and fires it follows the laws of progression." Therefore 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. Alliteration in the English language is deeply rooted in the traditions of English folklore. In Old English poetry alliteration was one of the basic principles of verse and considered, along with rhythm, to be its main characteristic. Each stressed meaningful word in a line had to begin with the same sound or combination of sounds. The repetition of the initial sounds of the stressed words in the line, as it were, integrates the utterance into a compositional unit. Unlike rhyme in modern English verse, the semantic function of which is to chain one line to another, alliteration in Old English verse was used to unite the sense within the line, leaving the relation between the lines rather loose. Alliteration is therefore sometimes called initial rhyme. The traditions of folklore are exceptionally stable and alliteration as a structural device of Old English poems and songs has shown remarkable continuity. It is frequently used as a well-tested means not only in verse but in emotive prose, in newspaper headlines, in the titles of books, in proverbs and sayings.

 

 

COMPOSITIONAL PATTERNS OF SYNTACTICAL ARRANGEMENT (STYLISTIC INVERSION, PARALLEL CONSTRUCTIONS)

Word-order is a crucial syntactical problem in many languages. In English it has peculiarities which have been caused by the concrete and specific way the language has developed. Inversion - the reversal of the normal order of words in a sentence, for the sake of emphasis (in prose) or for the sake of the metre (in poetry): Dark they were and golden-eyed. Stylistic inversion aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional coloring to the surface meaning of the utterance. Therefore a specific intonation pattern is the inevitable satellite of inversion. Stylistic inversion in Modern English should not be regarded as a violation of the norms of standard English. It is only the practical realization of what is potential in the language itself. Inversion as a stylistic device is always sense-motivated. There is a tendency to account for inversion in poetry by rhythmical considerations. Parallel constructions (or syntactic parallelism) - a figure based on the use of the similar syntactic pattern in two or more sentences or syntagms. Parallel constructions are often backed up by repetition of words (lexical repetition) and conjunctions and prepositions (polysyndeton). Pure parallel construction, however, does not depend on any other kind of repetition but the repetition of the syntactical design of the sentence. Parallel constructions may be partial or complete. Partial parallel arrangement is the repetition of some parts of successive sentences or clauses. Complete parallel arrangement, also called balance, maintains the principle of identical structures throughout the corresponding sentences. Parallel construction is most frequently used in enumeration, antithesis and in climax, thus consolidating the general effect achieved by these stylistic devices. Parallel construction is used in different styles of writing with slightly different functions. As a final remark it must be stated that the device of parallelism always generates rhythm, inasmuch as similar syntactical structures repeat in close succession. Hence it is natural that parallel construction should very frequently be used in poetical structures. Alternation of similar units being the basic principle of verse.

 

 

 

PHONOSTYLISTIC DEVICES OF THE SYNTAGMATIC LEVEL: RHYTHM, TYPES OF RHYTHM

Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. The most general definition of rhythm may be expressed as follows: "Rhythm is a flow, movement, procedure, etc., characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat, or accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements or features" (Webster's New World Dictionary). Rhythm, therefore, is the main factor which brings order into the utterance. Academician V. M. Zirmunsky suggests that the concept of rhythm should be distinguished from that of metre.    Metre is any form of periodicity in verse, its kind being determined by the character and number of syllables of which it consists. It follows then that rhythm is not a mere addition to verse or emotive prose, which also has its rhythm, and it must not be regarded as possessing "phonetic autonomy amounting to an 'irrelevant texture', but has a meaning." Permissible deviations from the given metre are called modifications of the rhythmical pattern. Some of them occur so frequently in classical verse that they become, as it were, constituents of the rhythm. It has already been pointed out that if rhythm is to be a stylistic category, one thing is required—the simultaneous "perception of. two contrasting phenomena, a kind of dichotomy. Therefore rhythm in verse as an SD is defined as a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and the variations of it, variations which are governed by the standard. Rhythm reveals itself most conspicuously in music, dance and verse. We have so far dealt with verse because the properties of rhythm in language are most observable in this mode of communication.

 

 

 

COMPOSITIONAL PATTERNS OF SYNTACTICAL ARRANGEMENT (DETACHMENT, REVERSED PARALLEL CONSTRUCTIONS)

Sometimes one of the secondary parts of a sentence by some specific consideration of the writer is placed so that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to. Such parts of structures are called detached. The essential quality of detached construction lies in the fact that the isolated parts represent a kind of independent whole thrust into the sentence or placed in a position which will make the phrase (or word) seem independent. But a detached phrase cannot rise to the rank of a primary member of the sentence—it always remains secondary from the semantic point of view, although structurally it possesses all the features of a "primary member”. Detached constructions in their common forms make the written variety of language akin to the spoken variety where the relation between the component parts is effectively materialized by means of intonation. In the English language detached constructions are generally used in the belles-lettres prose style and mainly with words that have some explanatory function. Detached construction as a stylistic device is a typification of the syntactical peculiarities of colloquial language. A variant of detached construction is parenthesis. Parenthesis is a qualifying, explanatory or appositive word, phrase, clause, sentence, or other sequence which interrupts a syntactic construction without otherwise affecting it, having often a characteristic intonation and indicated in writing by commas, brackets or dashes.

Chiasmus (reversed parallel construction) belongs to the group of stylistic devices based on the repetition of a syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phrases. "Down dropped the breeze, The sails dropped down". Chiasmus is sometimes achieved by a sudden change from active voice to passive or vice versa. It must be remembered that chiasmus is a syntactical, not a lexical device, i. e. it is only the arrangement of the parts of the utterance which constitutes this stylistic device. "In the days of old men made the manners', Manners now make men,"

there is no inversion, but a lexical device. Both parts of the parallel construction have the same, the normal word-order. However, the witty arrangement of the words has given the utterance an epigrammatic character. This device may be classed as lexical chiasmus or chiasmatic repetition. Syntactical chiasmus is sometimes used to break the monotony of parallel constructions. But whatever the purpose of chiasmus, it will always bring in some new shade of meaning or additional emphasis on some portion of the second part. Like parallel construction, chiasmus contributes to the rhythmical quality of the utterance.

 

 

NEWSPAPER STYLE: THE HEADLINE AND THE EDITORIAL

Newspaper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. Newspaper style contains the following basic newspaper features: 1) brief news items; 2) advertisements and announcements; 3) the headline; 4) the editorial.

The headline (the title given to a news item or an article) is a dependent form of newspaper writing. It is in fact a part of a larger whole. The specific functional and linguistic traits of the headline provide sufficient ground for isolating and analysing it as a specific "genre" of journalism. The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly what the text that follows is about. But apart from this, headlines often contain elements of appraisal, i.e. they show the reporter's or the paper's attitude to the facts reported or commented on, thus also performing the function of instructing the reader. The practices of headline writing are different with different newspapers. Syntactically headlines are very short sentences or phrases of a variety of patterns: full sentence, interrogative sentence, nominative sentence, sentence with articles omitted, phrases with verbs, headline including direct speech.

The function of the editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Their purpose is to give the editor's opinion and interpretation of the news published and suggest to the reader that it is the correct one. Like any evaluative writing, editorials appeal not only to the reader's mind but to his feelings as well. Hence the use of emotionally coloured language elements, both lexical and structural. In addition to vocabulary typical of brief news items, writers of editorials make an extensive use of emotionally coloured vocabulary. Alongside political words and expressions, terms, cliches and abbreviations one can find colloquial words and expressions, slang, and professionalisms. The language of editorial articles is characterized by a combination of different strata of vocabulary.

 

 

 

LEXICAL EMs AND SDs BASED ON THE INTERACTION OF PRIMARY AND CONTEXTUALLY OPPOSED MEANINGS (METAPHOR)

Metaphor The term 'metaphor', as the etymology of the word reveals, means transference of some quality from one object to another. From the times. of ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric, the term has been known to denote the transference of meaning from one word to another. It is still widely used to designate the process in which a word acquires a derivative meaning. A metaphor becomes a stylistic device when two different phenomena (things, events, ideas, actions) are simultaneously brought to mind by the imposition of some or all of the inherent properties of one object on the other which by nature is deprived of these properties. Such an imposition generally results when the creator of the metaphor finds in the two corresponding objects certain features which to his eye have something in common. "Dear Nature is the kindest Mother still" (Byron) the notion Mother arouses in the mind the actions of nursing, weaning, caring for, etc., whereas the notion Nature does not. There is no true similarity, but there is a kind of identification. Therefore it is better to define metaphor as the power of realizing two lexical meanings simultaneously. Due to this power metaphor is one of the most potent means of creating images. An image is a sensory perception of an abstract notion already existing in the mind. Consequently, to create an image means to bring a phenomenon from the highly abstract to the essentially concrete. Thus the example given above where the two concepts Mother and Nature are brought together in the interplay of their meanings, brings up the image of Nature materialized into but not likened to the image of Mother. Metaphors, like all stylistic devices, can be classified according to their degree of unexpectedness. Thus metaphors which are absolutely unexpected, i.e. are quite unpredictable, are called genuine metaphors. Those which are -commonly used in speech and therefore are sometimes even fixed in dictionaries as expressive means of language are trite metaphors, or dead metaphors. Their predictability therefore is apparent. Genuine' metaphors are regarded as belonging to language-in-action, i. e. speech- metaphors; trite metaphors belong to the language-as-a-system, i.e. language proper, and are usually fixed in dictionaries as units of the language. antonomasia (a variant of METAPHOR) a trope which consists in the use of a proper name to denote a different person who possesses some qualities of the primary owner of the name: Every Caesar has his Brutus (O'Henry).

 

 

 

 

LEXICAL EMs AND SDs BASED ON THE INTERACTION OF PRIMARY AND CONTEXTUALLY OPPOSED MEANINGS (ANTONOMASIA, PERSONIFICATION)

The interplay between the logical and nominal meanings of a word is called antonomasia. As in other stylistic devices based on the interaction of lexical meaning, the two kinds of meanings must be realized in the word simultaneously. If only one meaning is materialized in the context, there is no stylistic device. Antonomasia may be likened to the epithet in essence if not in form. It categorizes the person and thus simultaneously indicates both the general and the particular. Antonomasia is a much favored device in the belles-lettres style. In Russian literature this device is employed by many of our classic writers. It will suffice to mention such names as Vralman, Molchalin, Korobochka and Sobakevich to illustrate this efficient device for characterizing literary heroes, a device which is now falling out of use. These Russian names are also coined on the analogy of generally acknowledged models for proper names, with endings in -man, -in, -vich.

So far we have dealt with a variety of antonomasia in which common words with obvious logical meaning are given nominal meaning without losing their primary, basic significance. But antonomasia can also make a word which now has a basic nominal meaning acquire a generic signification, thus supplying the word with an additional logical meaning. This variety of antonomasia is not so widely used as a stylistic device, most probably due to the nature of words with nominal meaning: they tell very little or even nothing about the bearer of the name.

A personification is a figure of speech that gives an inanimate object or abstract idea human traits and qualities, such as emotions, desires, sensations, physical gestures and speech. In business and political news reportage, personification is commonly used to convey a sense of agency for otherwise abstract entities like nations, machines or corporations: US Defends Sale of Ports Company to Arab Nation. In English literature, personification is oft-used as a literary device: In John Keats's To Autumn, the fall season is personified as "sitting careless on a granary floor" and "drowsed with the fume of poppies".

 

 

 

PARTICULAR USE OF COLLOQUIAL CONSTRUCTIONS (ELLIPSIS, BREAK-IN-THE-NARRATIVE)

Ellipsis is a typical phenomenon in conversation, arising out of the situation. This typical feature of the spoken language assumes a new quality when used in the written language. It becomes a stylistic device. An elliptical sentence in direct intercourse is not a stylistic device. It is simply a norm of the spoken language. Ellipsis, when used as a stylistic device, always imitates the common features of colloquial language, where the situation predetermines not the omission of certain members of the sentence but their absence. It would perhaps be adequate to call sentences lacking certain members "incomplete-sentences", leaving the term ellipsis to specify structures where we recognize a digression from the traditional literary sentence structure. Thus the sentences 'See you to-morrow, 'Had a good time?'

Aposiopesis is a device which dictionaries define as "A stopping short for rhetorical effect." This is true. But this definition is too general to' disclose the stylistic functions of the device. In the written variety, a break in the narrative is always a stylistic device used for some stylistic effect. It is difficult, however, to draw a hard and fast distinction between break-in-the-narrative as a typical feature of lively colloquial language and as a specific stylistic device. The only criterion which may serve as a guide is that in conversation the implication can be conveyed by an adequate gesture. In writing it is the context, which suggests the adequate intonation, that is the only key to decoding the aposiopesis. Aposiopesis is a stylistic syntactical device to convey to the reader a very strong upsurge of emotions. The idea of this stylistic device is that the speaker cannot proceed, his feelings depriving him of the ability to express himself in terms of language. Break-in-the-narrative is a device which, on the one hand, offers a number of variants in deciphering the implication and, on the other, is highly predictable. The problem of implication is, as it were, a crucial one in stylistics. What is implied sometimes outweighs what is expressed. In other stylistic devices the degree of implication is not so high as in break-in-the-narrative. A sudden 'break in the narrative will inevitably focus the attention on what is left unsaid. Therefore the interrelation between what is given and what is new becomes more significant, inasmuch as the given is what is said and the new—what is left unsaid. Aposiopesis is a stylistic device in which the role of the intonation implied cannot be over-estimated. The pause after the break is generally charged with meaning and it is the intonation only that will decode the communicative significance of the utterance.