LECTURE 5

STYLISTIC SYNTAX
SYNTACTIC STYLISTIC DEVICES

SYNTACTIC STYLISTIC DEVICES

reduction of the extension of the change of word-order transposition

sentence model sentence model of sentence
meaning

Ellipsis Repetition Inversion Rhetorical questions

Nominative Enumeration Detachment of and other variants
Sentences Tautology sentence members
Aposiopesis Polysyndeton
Asyndeton Parallel constructions
Parceling

Apokoinu construction
Suspense
Cumulation

REDUCTION OF THE SENTENCE MODEL

Ellipsis [e’lipsis]

An elliptical sentence (Greek – leaving out) can be seen as grammatical omission,

that is omission of part of an utterance or grammatical structure, which can be
easily understood by the hearer or reader in the context. For example, in a wine-bar
we can point to a bottle of wine and say ‘Two glasses (of wine), please.
Answers to questions are commonly elliptical:
e.g. Where is the tiger’s head?
[The tiger’s head is] Five foot from his tail.
e.g. Where did you go?
To the disco.
Ellided or ellipted elements constitute GIVEN INFORMATION, and ellipsis
helps to focus on NEW, important INFORMATION.
Ellipsis is common in the representation of INTERIOR MONOLOGUE in novels,
suggesting the quick succession of thoughts and images. So, in Joyce’s Ulysses
Bloom ‘raised his eyes and met the stare of a clock. Two. Pub clock five minutes
fast. Time going on. Hands moving. Two. Not yet.’
Ellipsis is also common in narratives and plays as a means of speeding up the
action or the pace of the discourse.
E. is avoided in legal documents, because it could lead to ambiguity.

NOMINATIVE (NOMINAL) SENTENCES

A nominative sentence is a variant of one-member structures: it has neither subject
nor predicate. It is called nominative (nominal) because its basic component is a
noun or a noun-like element (gerund, numeral).
Classification:
1) Unextended (consist of a single element):
e.g. Morning. April. Problems.
2) Extended (basic component + one or more words modifying it):
e.g. Nice morning. Late April. Horribly great problems.
Communicative functions:
A sequence of nominative sentences is usually used to make description of events
dynamic.

APOSIOPESIS (BREAK-IN-THE-NARRATIVE)
Like ellipsis, aposiopesis is also realized through incompleteness of sentence
structure, though this incompleteness is of different structural and semantic nature:
it appears when the speaker is unwilling to proceed and breaks off his narration
abruptly, usually in moments of emotion: (e.g. What the…)
In the normal flow of literary discourse A. is rare, but MARKED when it appears.
A striking example helps from the climax of Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, as the
narrator Nick Carraway sums up Gatsby’s aspirations. It is as if the unfinished
sentence ENACTS the hope, and also the vanity, of Gatsby’s dreams:
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes
before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster,
stretch out our arms further… And one fine morning -
So we beat on, boats against the current, home back carelessly into the past.

Note: A. should not be confused with unintentional break in the narrative, when
the speaker does not know what to say.

ASYNDETON
Asyndeton is deliberate omission of structurally significant conjunctions and
connectives. A. is sometimes called asyndetic co-ordination:
e.g. At Mr. Wackford Squeers’s Academy, Dotheboys Hall.. Youth are boarded,
clothed, booked, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all necessaries,
instructed in all languages living and dead. (Dickens, Nickolas Nickeby, ch.3).
Asyndeton is common as a rhetorical device listing in Renaissance poetry.
Communicative function: A. Makes speech dynamic and expressive. Sometimes it
may imply the speaker’s haste, nervousness and impatience.

PARCELLING
Parceling is intentional splitting of sentences into smaller parts separated by full
stops.
e.g. Oswald hates Rolf. Very much.
Sally found Dick. Yesterday. In the pub.
Parceling is typical of spontaneous speech, where the function of dots is performed
by pauses.
When used in writing P. performs the following FUNCTION:
1) It reflects the atmosphere of unofficial communication and spontaneous
character of speech.
2) It reflects the speaker’s inner state of mind, his emotions, such as
nervousness, irritation, excitement, confusion etc.

EXTENSION OF THE SENTENCE MODEL

REPETITION
Repetition in ordinary conversation can be seen both as problem (e.g.
REDUNDANCY – ‘You’re repeating yourself’), and also as a powerful resource
of INTERPERSONAL involvement, an important rhetorical device of spoken
language.
It also used for EMPHASIS or out of intensity of feeling.
STYLISTIC REPETITION is one of a significant, most frequent and potent
devices in literary language.
Classification:
1) Consecutive contact repetition of sentence parts and separate sentences:
E.g. Never take the rifle again. Put it back! Put it back! Put it back!
2) ANAFORA. The repeated word or word composition at the beginning of
each consecutive syntactic structure:
E.g. Victory is what we need. Victory is what we expect.
3) EPIPHORA . The repeated unit is placed at the end of each consecutive
syntactic structure:
E.g. It is natural to be scared in a case like that. You are sure to be petrified in a
case like that.
4) FRAMING. The initial part of a language unit is repeated at the end of this
unit:
E.g. Poor Mary. How much Jack loved her. What will he do now? Poor Mary.
5) LINKING (OR REDUPLICATION). The final component of a syntactical
structure is repeated at the beginning of the sequential syntactic structure:
E.g. It was because of that dreadful occurrence. The dreadful occurrence
changed it all.
6) CHIASMUS (REVERSED PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION). In this
syntactic structure there is a cross order of repeated language units.
e.g. Before New Labor, politicians fought elections in order to govern. This
administration governs in order to fight elections.
Не говори, що знаєш, а знай, що говориш.
Люди існують в часі, а час існує в людях.

ENUMERATION
It is a syntactic device of naming objects so that there appears a chain of
homogeneous parts of the sentence.
E.g. There were cows, hens, goats, peacocks and sheep in the village.
E. creates the effect of great quantity of objects, makes the speech dynamic and
informative.

TAUTOLOGY
The Speaker resorts to the repetition and enumeration of the type described above
quite intentionally and consciously. However, tautology may be involuntary, - then
it has little to do with stylistics. It becomes stylistically significant when used in
writing as a character characterization device.
e.g. It was too late… Give me smth, Doc… Give me smth, quickly… Got to hold
on… get us down… got to get down. Must tell her… must tell…

POLYSYNDETON
It is stylistically motivated redundant repetition of conjunctions or prepositions.
E.g. The dog barked and pulled Jack, and growled, and raged.
P. is opposed to Asyndeton (no conjunctions at all).
P. is a means of rhythmical organization of the utterance. That is why is often used
in poetry. Sometimes P. is used to attract the listener’s attention. It is also used to
demonstrate an unsophisticated style of speech.

PARRALLEL CONSTRUCTIONS (PARALLELISM)

Parallelism is a stylistic device o producing two or more syntactic structures
according to the same syntactic pattern.
E.g. Out of sight, out of mind.
He came, he saw he conquered (Veni, vedi, vici)
Leech defined PARALLELISM as FOREGROUNDED REGULARITY.
P. with contrast is known as ANTITHESIS:
When one is in love one begins by deceiving oneself. And one ends by deceiving
others (O. Wilde).
P. makes speech persuasive and is a feature of publicistic and oratory styles. It
underlines the most important information in the utterance.

CHANGE OF WORD ORDER

 INVERSION
Inversion is the syntactic phenomenon of intentional change of word-order of the
initial sentence model.
There are two basically different types of inversion – grammatical and stylistic.
Grammatical I. is devoid of stylistic information. It is just a technical means of
forming different types of questions.
Stylistic I. is such a change of word-order which gives logical stress or emotional
coloring to the language units placed in an unusual syntactic position.
E.g. In came John (predicate inversion)
Insolent Connor’s conduct was (predicative)
Little chances Benny had (direct object)
To the disco Hilda went (adverbial modifier).
In Ukrainian the word order is flexible, and inversion as an expressive means is
supported by the specifying intonation:
Очевидно, Федір ніде не працює. Працює він. Вдома ложкою.

DETACHMENT
When placed in a certain syntactic position, a sentence component may seem
formally independent of the word it refers to. Such components of sentence
structure are called DETACHED:
E.g. There was a nice girl there. I liked her name, Linda.
It was indeed, to Forsyte’s eyes, an odd house.
Communicative function of DETACHMENT is to make logical emphasis of the
components of sentence structure.

TRANSPOSITION OF SENTENCE MEANING

RHETORICAL QUESTION
AND OTHER CASES OF STYLISTIC TRANSPOSITION
Contextual environment of a language unit may change its initial meaning. A
typical case of contextual transposition of meaning is rhetorical question.
In fact, rhetorical questions are NOT questions, but affirmative or negative
statements put into the interrogative shape.
A rhetorical question needs no answer, because the answer to it is quite obvious:
E.g. Why should I do it?
Why doesn’t he shut up?
A R.Q. enhances the expressiveness of the speech.

There are other varieties of contextual transposition of meaning:

1. Exclamatory sentences with inversion:
E.g. Much he knew about it! (He knew nothing)
2. Negative sentences implying emphatic affirmation:
E.g. I’ll hang myself if it isn’t Barney Woods who did it!
 APOKOINU CONSTRUCTION
Apokoinu Construction is a blend of two clauses, in which one word has two
syntactical functions: being the predicative or an object of the first clause it is
simultaneously the subject of the second one. E.g. He was the only man wore
the hat (A. Christie). The full complex sentence should have been: He was the
only man who wore the hat.
This construction was widely used in Old and Middle English. In Modern
English it usually testifies to careless, colloquial speech.
E.g. There are lots of vulgar people live in Grosvenor square, but at any rate
there are no horrid kangaroos crawling about.

SUSPENSE
Suspense is deliberate postponing of the completion of the main thought until
the end of the utterance. Suspense arouses the state of uncertainty, usually with
anxiety or expectation as to the possible conclusion of the utterance, thus
producing a psychological effect.
Suspense is most often used in oratorical speech. The emotional tension created
by inserted phrases, clauses, parenthetical words and sentences, is aimed at
preparing the listener for the only possible logical outcome of these arguments.

CUMULATION
Cumulation (Lat cumulare = to heap up) is a peculiar type of connecting
seemingly independent sentences. It is used to connect phrases and sentences
that are grammatically and semantically independent, but still there exist some
logical ties between them.
E.g. I immediately perceived that if I wanted to keep awake and alive I must get
a light or open a window, so as to get a grip of something with my eyes. And
besides I was cold. (H. Wells “The First Men in the Moon”)
The cumulative construction expressing some additional remark or explanation
is inseparable from the idea stated in the preceding sentence, continues it and
together with it conveys the emotional state and experiences of the character.