Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
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Expressive
Phonetic variation
Prosodic means
1) Reduction of vowels
1) Stress
2) Omission of sounds
Onomatopoeia
2) Intonation
2)
3) Substitution of sounds
Assonance
3) Rhyme
3)
1) Alliteration
Phonetic Variation
Coorticulation in phonology; for the sake of ease and fluency in
connected & rapid speech.
Omission of consonants:
iii.
i.
Contracted forms characterize colloquial speech.
Other deviations can be used as a means of the personages
speech characteristics they indicate his/her social status,
educational level.
Emotional state.
Prosodic means
Prosodic means serve to transfer emotions. Intonation and stress are very
important.
In oral speech, intonation and stress are expressed directly by the speaker. In
written speech they are conveyed indirectly by graphical expressive means /
graphical stylistic means.
E.g:
Italics
bold type
capital letters (He was SLAIN in North Africa)
letter multiplication (Allll aboarrrrd!)
dash (re-fuse).
Rhyme: A rhyme is the repetition of similar sounding words occurring at the end of lines in
poems or songs.
Functions:
i.
It brings rhythm and musicality in poems and differentiates them from prose which is plain.
ii.
iii.
It gives a pleasing effect to a poem which makes its recitation an enjoyable experience.
Moreover, facilitates the memorization of a peom. For instance, all nursery rhymes contain
rhyming words in order to facilitate learning for children as they enjoy reading them and the
presence of repetitive patterns enables them to memorize that particular poem effortlessly.
Alliteration.1
Alliteration is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same
initial consonant sound, occur close together in a series.
Function: a strong melodic and emotional effect.
Deep into the darkness peering, long and stood there wondering fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before. (E.A. Poe)
The repetition of the sound /d/ in the lines quoted from Poes poem The
Raven evokes the feeling of anxiety, fear, horror, or all these feelings
simultaneously.
It is widely used in folklore, proverbs, sayings, traditional pairs of words:
out of the frying pan into the fire; safe and sound, as fit as a fiddle,
as busy as a bee
Titles (Books/Literary Pieces):
Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility (J. Austen), School for Scandal (R.
Sheridan), Silver Spoon (J. Galsworthy).
2. Assonance
Assonance The repetition of similar vowel sounds usually in stressed syllables.
Assonance has a very important role to play in both poetry and prose.
Creates a musical effect in text.
Enhances the pleasure of reading a literary piece.
3. Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech-sounds which aims at imitating sounds
produced in nature.
Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds as
e.g. ding-dong, buzz, bang, cuckoo, mew, ping-pong, etc.
Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to
make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense.
It is sometimes called echo-writing
When the sense of an utterance is reflected in the sounds of that utterance.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain (E.A.Poe)
The repetition of the sound [s] actually produces the sound of the rustling of
the curtain.
Indirect onomatopoeia demands some mention of what makes the sound, the
rustling (of curtain), etc.