Stylistics
EXPRESSIVE MEANS (EM) AND STYLISTIC DEVICES (SD)
A11 stylistic means of a language can be divided into expressive means (EM) and stylistic devices (SD).
The expressive m e a n s of a language are those phonetic means, morphological forms, means of word-building, and lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms, all of which function in the language for emotional or logical intensification of the utterance. They have been fixed in grammars and dictionaries. In most cases they have corresponding neutral synonymous forms.
Phonetic EM. The human voice can indicate subtle nuances of meaning that no other means can attain. Pitch, melody, stress, pausation, drawling, drawling out certain syllables, whispering, a sing-song manner of speech and other ways of using the voice are more effective than any other means in intensifying the utterance emotionally or logically.Very few of them belong to the material sphere - they are studied in paralinguistics. (the purpose of phonostylistics is to study the ways in which an author uses phonologyof the language beyond the normal requirements of the phonetic system.)
Morphological EM:
• the use of the Present Indefinite instead of the Past Indefinite = the Historical Present. (In describing some past event the author uses the present tense, thus achieving a more vivid picturisation of what was going on.)
• the use of shall in the second and third person
e.g. He shall do it (= I shall make him do it).
He has to do it (= It is necessary for him to do it).
Word-building EM:
• the diminutive suffixes as -y(ie), -let, e. g. dear, dearie, stream, streamlet.
• neologisms and nonce-words formed with nonproductive suffixes or with Greek roots, as: mistressmanship, cleano-rama, walkathon.
Lexical EM:
• words with emotive meaning only, like interjections;
• words which have both referential and emotive meaning, like some of the qualitative adjectives;
•...
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