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Fundamentals of Decoding Stylistics

There are two main directions in the stylistic analysis - analysis from the author's point of view (encoding stylistics) and from the reader's point of view (decoding stylistics).

Encoding stylistic analysis presupposes that the peculiarities of the author's style are singled out on the basis of comparison with other writers.  Encoding stylistic analysis includes the critical study of the author's style, vocabulary means used by him.  Much attention is paid to the author's ideas concerning the creative work in general and his work in particular.  Ideas can be extracted from the writer's diaries, letters, articles, etc.  Encoding stylistic analysis takes into consideration the facts of the writer's biography, the genesis of the work in question, the characteristic features of the epoch and literary trend.  This kind of analysis is based on the thorough knowledge of the History of Literature.  Analysis from the author's point of view treats the work of art as a result or consequence of creative activity.

The analysis of the text goes through a number of definite stages. It begins with the analysis of main ideas and themes of the literary work which include the complex of philosophical, moral, social, political, psychological problems and author's emotions, attitudes and view on them. This stage is followed with the analysis of the composition and the system of images of the literary work connected with the plot, characters and setting. Then follows the analysis of lexical and grammatical expression of the images - stylistic devices and means. And finally we pay attention to phonetic or sound form of the text and its graphical representation.

But the reader usually follows the reversed way. He transforms the graphical presentation into words, then into the system of images, feelings, thoughts of the author, and at last the reader can grasp the main idea of the author. Much attention is paid to the text, less to the writer. A work of art is treated as a source of information and impressions. This is another kind of stylistic analysis, i.e. from the reader's point of view, or decoding stylistics.

This approach was born in 1950-1960s and it was worked out by an American linguist Michael Riffaterre who combined the concepts of modern linguistics with those of information theory. The first person to mention the importance of information theory for linguistics was a mathematician.  Claude Shannon created the theory of information and described it in his book "The Mathematic Theory of Communication" (1949). The theory of information makes use of such terms as: information, message, code, communication, channel, to encode, to decode, feedback.  Shannon spoke about the chain of communication:

objective reality  > transmitter/encoder > message/text > receiver/ decoder > objective reality (surrounding the adressee).

Shannon's idea was interpreted for the purposes of linguistics in general and stylistic analysis in particular. Literature is a social phenomenon and it controls the reader's perception of reality and his activities in real life. Shannon's chain can look the following way:

social reality (surrounding the writer) > writer (encoder) > literary work > reader (decoder) > social reality (surrounding the reader).

The term "decoding stylistics" implies that we concentrate our attention on the receiving end of Shannon's chain of communication.  

In Russia this approach was developed by the Leningrad school of linguistics and I.V. Arnold in particular. By code Arnold means a set of signs (and rules in which they are arranged) used for transmitting messages through some specific channel. By message she means a sum total of properties of the source reflected and transmitted to the adressee or, in other words, it is one system rendered by elements of another system.

Sign can mean a discrete physical element that carries information, i.e. something material which can be distinguished by the senses and stands for something else. In each letter of the alphabet we recognize a distinct shape different form that of any other letter and standing for some sound. Simple signs are combined in more complicated codograms, and these form codograms on a higher level. Finally, a complete message results. In language all small units become parts of larger ones. A text is an arrangement of static material signs situated on a page, framed by a margin and arranged typographically in a certain way.

By encoding (coding) Arnold means the operation of identification of symbols and groups of symbols of one kind with symbols and groups of symbols of a different kind. Decoding by the receiver is the reconstruction of the message by knowing code combinations. Literary text can be identified with the communication channel at the stage of transmission. The signal is mixed with inevitable noise which can bring disturbances to the process of communication and interfere with the reception of information. The sources of noise may be different. There may be changes that occur in one of the codes used during the time that has passed between the moments of encoding and decoding (jokes may lose their points, manners can change).

Literary Text as a Poetic Structure

Literary text has two layers: verbal and supraverbal. Verbal layer is represented by words which are combined into phrases, phrases are combined into sentences, sentences - into paragraphs, which in their turn make up large units. At the same time when we deal with the literary text we can see that there is one more layer emerging out of the verbal one. The reader can see that word sequences represent series of events, conflicts, characters, a definite composition of a literary text. All these word sequences form a plot of the work of art, which in its turn belongs to a definite literary genre. The image of reality is created with the help of words and through this image the author conveys his message. Thus, we talk about the supraverbal, or poetic, layer of the literary text. Supraverbal and verbal layers are inseparable from each other, and it is impossible to change anything in the form of the text without causing the changes in the contents. We talk about the cohesion of two layers of the literary text.

Poetic structure of a literary text, its supraverbal layer, involves such entities as image, theme, idea, composition and genre.  As components of poetic structure they are essentially inseparable from each other, but as basic categories of the theory of literature they may be treated in isolation.  

1. Image.

Literature interprets life by recreating it in the form of images inspired by life and in accordance with the author's point of view.  All images in the literary work present a hierarchy.  The top-image is the macro-image, i.e. the literary work itself, understood as an image of life envisioned and depicted by the writer. Within the literary work the top position is occupied by the image of character/characters. At the bottom of the hierarchy there is a word-image (a micro-image): simile, metaphor, epithet. They together with other elements create event-images, landscape-images, etc. Each micro-image, taken separately, is just a SD, but within the poetic structure of the text it is an element which, together with other elements, helps to express the content.

2. Theme.

The theme of the literary work can be understood as an interaction of human characters under certain circumstances, such as some social or psychological conflict. Within a single work, the basic theme can alternate with rival themes and by-themes. For example, in War and Peace the basic theme is the life of the Russian society of the first half of XIX century, the rival theme is the family relationships, by-themes are numerous. Theme is more general than idea (message).

3. Idea.

Idea is the underlined thought and emotional attitude transmitted by the whole poetic structure of the literary text.  Idea is the mode of representation, which reveals the unity of form and content.

4. Composition.

The subject matter of a literary work (the sequence of events, character collisions, etc.) may be represented in a variety of ways. Authors usually choose their technique according to the message they want to bring to the reader. Composition is closely connected with plot. Plot is a sequence of events in which the characters are involved, the theme and idea are revealed. The usual elements of the plot are exposition, story, climax and denouement. The arrangement of all this elements makes up the composition of the literary work.

Functional Styles of the English Language

Functional styles (FS) are the subsystems of language, each subsystem having its own peculiar features in what concern vocabulary means, syntactical constructions, and even phonetics. The appearance and existence of FS is connected with the specific conditions of communication in different spheres of human life. FS differ not only by the possibility or impossibility of using some elements but also due to the frequency of their usage. For example, some terms can appear in the colloquial style but the possibility of its appearance is quite different form the possibility to meet it in an example of scientific style. 

The classification of FS is a very complicated problem, that is why we will consider ideas of I.V.Arnold and I.R. Galperin, bearing in mind that Galperin treats functional styles as patterns of the written variety of language thus excluding colloquial FS.  Both scholars agree that each FS can be recognized by one or more leading features.  But Galperin pays more attention to the coordination of language means and stylistic devices whereas Arnold connects the specific features of each FS with its peculiarities in the sphere of communication.

According to I.R. Galperin, a functional style of language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. A functional style should be regarded as the product of a certain concrete task set by the sender of the message.  Functional styles appear mainly in the literary standard of the language. These represent varieties of the abstract invariant and can deviate from the invariant, even breaking away with it.

Each FS is a relatively stable system at the given stage in the development of the literary language, but it changes, and sometimes considerably, from one period to another.  Therefore FS is a historical category.  Thus, for example in the 17th century it was considered that not all words can be used in poetry, and that a separate poetic style exists. Later, in the 19th century romanticism rejected the norms of poetic style and introduced new vocabulary to poetry. The development of each style is predetermined by the changes in the norms of standard English.  It is also greatly influenced by changing social conditions, the progress of science and the development of cultural life.

Every functional style of language is marked by a specific use of language means, thus establishing its own norms which, however, are subordinated to the norm-invariant and which do not violate the general notion of the literary norm. The writers of the given period in the development of the literary language contribute greatly to establishing the system of norms of their period.  It is worth noting that the investigations of language norms at a given period are to great extent maintained on works of men of letters. Selection, or deliberate choice of language, and the ways the chosen elements are treated are the main distinctive features of individual style.

Individual style is a unique combination of language units, expressive means and stylistic devices peculiar to a given writer, which makes that writer's works or even utterances easily recognizable. (Galperin, p.17)  Naturally, the individual style of a writer will never be entirely independent of the literary norms and canons of the given period.  But the adaptations of these canons will always be peculiar and therefore distinguishable.  Individual style is based on a thorough knowledge of the contemporary language and allows certain justifiable deviations from the rigorous norms. Individual style requires to be studied in a course of stylistics in so far as it makes use of the potentialities of language means, whatever the characters of these potentialities may be.

 All men of letters have a peculiar individual manner of using language means to achieve the effect they desire.  Writers choose language means deliberately.  This process should be distinguished from language peculiarities which appear in everyday speech of this or that particular individual (idiolect).

NEUTRAL STYLE :: COLLOQUIAL STYLE :: BOOKISH STYLE

The term “neutral style” is used mostly to denote the background for realizing stylistic peculiarities of stylistically colored elements. Neutral style is characterized by the absence of stylistic coloring and by the possibility to be used in any communicative situation. This style is deliberately simplified.

If neutral style serves any situation of communication colloquial style serves situations of spontaneous everyday communication (casual, non-formal). Bookish style corresponds to public speech (non-casual, formal). This division does not coincide with the division into spoken and written language because colloquial style can be used in fiction, bookish style represented for example by oratorical style exists in the oral form only. At the same time we should remember that colloquial speech which we meet in fiction has undergone some transformations: the writer usually compresses linguistic information choosing the typical and avoiding the accidental.

Colloquial style is divided into upper colloquial, common colloquial and low colloquial. The latter two have their own peculiar features connected with region, gender, age of the speaker.

Bookish style embraces scientific, official, publicistic (newspaper), oratorical, and poetic styles.

Arnold belongs to the group of scholars who reject the existence of belles-letres style. Her opinion is that each work of literature presents an example of the author’s individual speech and thus follows its own norm, in the work of literature authors often use different FS.

She introduces the notion of language function characteristic for different FS.  Intellectual-communicative function is connected with the transferring of intellectual ideas. Voluntary function serves for influencing the will-power and conscience of listener or reader.

Table

Having in mind the fact that FS is a historical category Arnold doubts that in the contemporary English language exists a separate poetic style. As it is clearly seen from the table oratorical and scientific styles are opposite to each other the first having all functions of language, the second – only one.

There are no strict boundaries separating one FS from another. The oratorical style has much in common with a publicistic one. The publisictic newspaper style is close to the colloquial style. But if we consider this problem it will be evident that we are dealing with the combination of different FS in the speech of a given individual because each FS is characterized by certain parameters concerning vocabulary and syntax.  

The Belles-Lettres Style

According to I.R. Galperin, this is a generic term for three substyles: the language of poetry; emotive prose (the language of fiction); the language of the drama.  Each of these substyles has certain common features, and each of them enjoys some individuality.  The common features of the substyles are the following:

1. The aesthetico-cognitive function (a function which aims at the cognitive process, which secures the gradual unfolding of the idea to the reader and at the same time calls forth a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction which a reader experiences because he is able to penetrate into the author's idea and to form his own conclusions).
2. Definite linguistic features:

1. Genuine, not trite, imagery, achieved by purely linguistic devices.
2. The use of words in different meanings, greatly influenced by the lexical environment.
3. A vocabulary which will reflect to a certain degree the author's personal evaluation of things or phenomena.
4. A peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax.
5. The introduction of the typical features of colloquial language to a full degree (drama), to a lesser degree (in prose), to a slight degree (poetry).

The belles-lettres style is individual in essence.  This is one of its most distinctive properties.

The language of poetry is characterized by its orderly form, which is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances.  The rhythmic aspect calls forth syntactic and semantic peculiarities.  There are certain restrictions which result in brevity of expression, epigram-like utterances and fresh, unexpected imagery.  Syntactically this brevity is shown in elliptical sentences, in detached constructions, in inversion, etc.

Emotive prose shares the same common features, but these features are correlated differently than in poetry.  The imagery is not so rich as in poetry; the percentage of words with contextual meaning is not so high.  Emotive prose features the combination of the literary variant of the language, both in words and in syntax, with the colloquial variant.  But the colloquial language in the belles-lettres style is not a simple reproduction of the natural speech, it has undergone changes introduced by the writer and has been made "literature-like".  In emotive prose there are always two forms of communication present - monologue (the writer's speech) and dialogue (the speech of the characters).  Emotive prose allows the use of elements from other styles as well.  But all these styles undergo a kind of transformation under the influence of emotive prose.  Passages written in other styles may be viewed only as interpolations and not as constituents of the style.

Language of the drama is entirely dialogue.  The author's speech is almost entirely excluded except for the playwright's remarks and stage directions.  But the language of the characters is not the exact reproduction of the norms of colloquial language.  Any variety of the belles-lettres style will use the norms of the literary language of the given period.  The language of plays is always stylized, it strives to retain the modus of literary English.

Publicistic Style

The publicistic style of language became a separate style in the middle of the 18th century.  Unlike other styles, it has two spoken varieties, namely the oratorical substyle and the radio and TV commentary.  The other two substyles are the essay (moral, philosophical, literary) and journalistic articles (political, social, economic).  The general aim of publicistic style is to influence the 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 expressed point of view.

Publicistic style is characterized by coherent and logical syntactical structure, with an expanded system of connectives and careful paragraphing.  Its emotional appeal is achieved by the use of words with the emotive meaning but the stylistic devices are not fresh or genuine.  The individual element is not very evident.  Publicistic style is also characterized by the brevity of expression, sometimes it becomes a leading feature.

The oratorical style 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.  The typical features of this style are: direct address to the audience; sometimes contractions; the use of colloquial words.  The SDs employed in the oratorical style are determined by the conditions of communication.  As the audience rely only on memory, the speaker often resorts to repetitions to enable his listeners to follow him and to retain the main points of his speech.  The speaker often use simile and metaphor, but these are generally traditional, because genuine SDs may be difficult to grasp.  

The essay is rather a series of personal and witty comments than a finished argument or a conclusive examination of the matter.  The most characteristic language features of the essay are: brevity of expression; the use of the first person singular; a rather expanded use of connectives; the abundant use of emotive words; the use of similes and sustained metaphors.  

The language of journalistic articles is defined by the character of newspaper, magazine, as well as subjects chosen.  Literary reviews stand closer to essays.

Newspaper Style

English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century.  The first of any regular English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared in May, 1622. The early English newspaper was principally a vehicle of information.  Commentary found its way into the newspapers later.  But as far back as the middle of the 18th century the British newspaper was very much like what it is today, carrying foreign and domestic news, advertisements, announcements and articles containing comments.

Not all the printed materials found in newspapers comes under newspaper style. Only materials which perform the function of informing the reader and providing him with an evaluation of information published can be regarded as belonging to newspaper style. English newspaper style can be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader. Information in the English newspaper is conveyed through the medium of:

1. brief news items;
2. press reports;
3. articles purely informational in character;
4. advertisements and announcements.

The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on political and other matters.  Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and way of presentation of news, in the use of specific vocabulary, casting some doubt on the facts recorded, and syntactical constructions indicating a lack of assurance of the reporter or his desire to avoid responsibility.  The principle vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article and the editorial in particular.  Editorial is a leading article which is characterized by a subjective handling of facts.  This purpose defines the choice of language elements which are mostly emotionally colored.

Newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of:

1. special political and economic terms (president, election);
2. non-term political vocabulary (nation, crisis, agreement, member);
3. newspaper cliches (pressing problem, danger of war, pillars of society);
4. abbreviations (NATO, EEC);
5. neologisms.

The Style of Official Documents

This FS is not homogeneous and is represented by the following substyles or variants:

1. the language of business documents;
2. the language of legal documents;
3. the language of diplomacy;
4. the language of military documents.

Like other styles of language, this style has a definite communicative aim and its own system of interrelated language and stylistic means.  The main aim of this type of communication is to state the conditions binding two parties and to reach agreement between two contracting parties. The most general function of the style of official documents predetermines the peculiarities of the style. The most striking feature is a special system of cliches, terms and set expressions by which each substyle can be easily recognized.  Thus in finance we find terms like extra revenue, liability.  In diplomacy such phrases as high contracting parties, memorandum, to ratify an agreement are found.  In legal language, examples are to deal with a case, a body of judges.

All these varieties use abbreviations, conventional symbols and contractions, for example, M.P. (Member of Parliament), Ltd (Limited), $. Abbreviations are especially abundant in military documents.   They are used not only as conventional symbols, but also as signs of military code. Another feature of the style is the use of words in their logical dictionary meaning.  There is no room here for the realization of any other meaning here.

THE BELLES-LETTRES STYLE

Of all the functional styles of language, the most difficult to define is the belles-lettres style. Franz Kafka defines this style as “organised violence done on ordinary speech”. Literary works create their own world. Each is a unique entity. Just as a painter uses paint to create a new image, a writer uses words to create a text. An important thing to recognise about literary works is just how carefully and consciously they are crafted. Words are the raw material of literature and literary writers stretch them to their limits.

D. Crystal (1996) said that the literary language is the art in making the unnatural appear natural. For example, a playwright or novelist may write a dialogue which is naturalistic – i. e. it employs colloquialism, dialect words and so on – but this dialogue is very different from spontaneous speech. It will contain no non-fluency features, it will probably be less repetitious and more dramatic than ordinary speech.

Other forms of literature make no attempt to appear natural – in fact they deliberately surprise the readers´ expectations. They might use familiar words in unfamiliar ways as e. e. cummings does, or they might coin new words as Gerald Hopkins does. Perhaps we expect poets to use deviant language, but prose writers like James Joyce do it too. The belles-lettres style is a generic term for three substyles in which the main principles and the most general properties of the style are materialized. These three substyles are:

1. the language of poetry
2. emotive prose
3. the language of the drama

Each of these substyles has certain common features. First of all comes the common function which may be called “aeshetico-cognitive”. This is a double function which aims at the cognitive process and, at the same time, calls for a feeling of pleasure. This pleasure is caused not only by admiration of the selected language means and their peculiar arrangement but also by the fact that the reader is led to form his own conclusions.  So the purpose of the belles-lettres style is to suggest a possible interpretation of the phenomena of life by forcing the reader to see the view point of the writer. Nothing gives more pleasure and satisfaction than realizing that one has the ability to penetrate into the hidden tissue of events, phenomena and human activity and to perceive the relation between various seemingly unconnected facts brought together by the creative mind of the writer.

From all this it follows, that the belles-lettres style must select a system of language means which will secure the effect sought. The belles-lettres style rests on certain indispensable linguistic features which are:

1. genuine, not trite, imagery, achieved by purely linguistic device
2. the use of words in contextual and very often in more that one dictionary meaning
3. a vocabulary which will reflect to a greater or lesser degree the author´s personal evaluation of things or phenomena
4. a peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax, a kind of lexical and syntactical idiosyncrasy
5. introduction of the typical features of colloquial language.

The belles-lettres style is individual in essence. Individuality in selecting language means and stylistic devices  is one of its most distinctive properties.

1. LANGUAGE OF POETRY

The first substyle we shall consider is v e r s e. Its first differentiating property is its orderly form, which is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances. The rhythmic aspect calls forht syntactical and semantic peculiarities which also fall into a more or less strict orderly arrangement. Both syntax and semantics comply with the restrictions imposed by the rhythmic pattern, and the result is brevity of expression, epigram-like utterances, and fresh unexpected imagery. Syntactically this brevity is shown in elliptical and fragmentary sentences, in detached constructions, in inversion, asyndeton and other syntactical peculiarities.

2. EMOTIVE PROSE

The substyle of emotive prose has the same common features as have been pointed out for the belles-lettres style in general., but all these features are correlated differently in emotive prose. The imagery is no so rich as it is in poetry, the percentage of words with contextual meaning is not so high as in poetry, the idiosyncrasy of the author is not so clearly discernible. Apart form metre and rhyme, what most of all distinguishes emotive prose form the poetic style is the combination of the literary variant of the language, both in words and syntax, with the colloquial variant. It would perhaps be more exact to define this as a combination of the spoken and written varieties of the language, inasmuch as there are always two forms of communication present – monologue (the writer´s speech) and dialogue (the speech of the characters).

It follows then that the colloquial language in the belles-lettres style is not a pure and simple reproduction of what might be the natural speech of living people. It has undergone changes introduced by the writer. The colloquial speech has been made „literature-like.“ This means that only the most striking elements of what might have been a conversation in life are made use of, and even these gave undergone some kind of transformation. Emotive prose allows the use of elements from other styles as well. Thus we find elements of the newspaper style in Sinclair Lewis´s  ”It Can´t Happen Here“, the official style in the business letters exchanged between two characters in Galsworthy´s novel „The Man of Property“, the style of scientific prose in Cronin´s  “Citadel” where medical language is used.

But all these styles under the influence of emotive prose undergo a kind of transformation. Passages written in other styles may be viewed only as interpolation and not as constituents of the style.  Present day emotive prose is to a large extent characterized by the breaking-up of traditional syntactical designs of the preceding periods. Not only detached construction, but also fragmentation of syntactical models, peculiar, unexpected ways of combining sentences, especially the gap-sentence link and other modern syntactical patterns, are freely introduced into present-day emotive prose.

3. LANGUAGE OF THE DRAMA

The stylization of colloquial language is one of the features of plays which at different stages in the history of English drama has manifested itself in different ways revealing, on the one hand, the general trends of the literary language and, on the other, the personal idiosyncrasies of the writer. Thus the language of plays is a stylized type of the spoken variety of language. The analysis of the language texture of plays has shown that the most characteristic feature here is to use the term of the theory of information, redundancy of information caused by the necessity to amplify the utterance. This is done for the sake of the audience.

The language of plays is entirely dialogue. The author´s speech is almost entirely excluded except for the playwright´s remark and stage directions. The language of the characters is in no way the exact reproduction of the norms of colloquial language, although the playwright seeks to reproduce actual conversation as far as the norms of the written language will allow. This variety of belles-lettres style has used the norms of the literary language of the given period. So 16th century drama is much different from 20th century drama.

LECTURE ONE

THE SUBJECT MATTER OF STYLISTICS AND ITS MAIN PROBLEMS

Stylistics (sometimes called linguo-stylistics) is a branch' of general linguistics. It has now been more or less definitely outlined.
It deals mainly with two independent tasks: a) the investigation of the'   inventory of special language media which secure the desirable effect of the utterance and b) certain types of texts which due to the choice and arrangement of language means are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication.        

The main principles of linguistics were outlined by Charles Bally; the pupil of the Swiss linguist F. de Saussure. Ch*Bally defined stylistics as a branch of linguistics which studies expressive resources of a language. Originally -stylistics was confined to the study of  ordinary speech and didn't take into consideration literary layers of speech. Later all layers of the language became the object of stylistic studies: from the loftiest ones to popular speech.

According to I.V.Arnold, stylistics is a branch of linguistics that studies the principles and the effect of the choice of various linguistic means (phonetic, morphological, lexical, syntactic, etc.), used to convey a thought or an emotion in various conditions of communication.

Other branches of linguistics are: phonetics, lexicology, gram-mar (morphology and syntax), and each of them corresponds to this or that level of language.  All in all there are seven linguistic levels:

1. phonemic level;
2. morphemic level;
3. lexical level;
4. syntactic level;
5. semantic level.      

Phonetics and phonology- deal with the phonemic level of the language, study sounds of human speech. Morphology studies morphemes and parts of speech. Syntax deals with  phrases and sentences, the arrangement of words into phrases, phrases into clauses, and clauses into sentences. Lexicology deals with the vocabulary of a language and the properties of words. Semantics studies the meaning of words, the interrelation between words and objects. The main object of semasiological studies is the semantic development of words, types of lexical meaning, polysemy, semantic structure of words, semantic grouping.

Stylistics studies all these levels, every linguistic aspect, but from a different point of view, i.e. the stylistic approach to these
problems is different. Stylistics is concerned with the expressive resources (potentialities) of the language, and these resources exist on various linguistic levels.        

Stylistics is closely connected with different adjacent disciplines, such as theory of information, literature, psychology, logic.
This is indispensable, for nowadays no science is entirely isolated from other domains of human knowledge.        

One of the concepts, borrowed from i.e. theory of information, is the notion of "information". When describing or interpreting the text stylistically it is necessary to bear in Find that we deal with two types of information. The first type is primary  information, mean* ing as such, the subject matter of communication, having no relation to the circumstances of the act of communication. This type of information is concerned with the notional, logical, denotative meaning of words. The second type is secondary information, additional information, connected with the circumstances and participants of the act of communication. Secondary information concerns the speaker rather than the subject matter of communication, it reflects the speaker's attitude to what is being said, his approval or disapproval, etc, it gives us an idea of the social status of the speaker, his age, the place he comes from, the level of his culture, the state of his emotions. Thus, additional information may be of the emotional, social, cultural aspect. Additional information is connected with the connotative meaning of words. Let us analyze the following group of synonyms: girl, maiden, lass, lassie, chick, baby, young lady. All these words have one and the same denotative meaning. But their connotations are different. The word "girl" is stylistically neutral. "Maiden" is an archaic and poetic word. "Lass" and especially "lassie" are emotionally coloured and dialectal. "Chick" and "baby" belong to colloquial English, the latter having Q positive evaluation and denoting a pretty girl. "Young lady" may sometimes sound a bit ironic. This difference between two types of information may be viewed from a different point of view, proceeding  from  the functions any language fulfill. The functions of the language are the definite aim of the language in a particular sphere of communication. One can distinguish the following functions of the language:        

        1) Communicative function, i.e. communication itself, tonveying objective primary information, or meaning as such.        

2. Voluntative function is the function of inducement, urging the .addressee to action, appealing to him with the aim of making him do smth. or not do something, of causing him to do smth.;  
3. Emotive function consists in, expressing the speaker's feelings and emotions, his attitude to the addressee or to  the message.  
4. Phatic function consists in establishing language contacts with the members of speech community. It is realized in such everyday formulas, as "look here, I say, the point is, etc".

In the English language this function is very often performed by utterances  the content of which is focused round the problems of weather, but in reality they aim at bridging the gap between people.  

5) Aesthetic function is mostly prominent in poetry, in artistic literature, in some peculiar imaginative utterances.

The first type of information is primarily connected with the communicative function of the language. The second type of information is connected with all the other functions - voluntative, emotive, phatic, aesthetic.

While every element of the utterance is important for primary information, the additional information may be expressed. in a comparatively small portion of vocabulary and still it greatly influences the whole of the utterance.

The aim of stylistic description and stylistic analysis is the study of the interaction between primary and secondary information. It is necessary to emphasize that we draw the line between primary and additional information, denotative and connotative meanings, and the objective and subjective in the message only for the sake of analysis; in reality they     represent different aspects or sides of one and the same phenomenon and form a whole.

In the course of English we shall deal with the choice and effect of linguistic means conveying additional information. The aim of stylistics is to define and evaluate those elements of the language on any level that accompany logical, neutral and purely denotative information in any utterance. Hence, we distinguish: stylistic lexicology, stylistic phraseology, stylistic morphol.ogy, stylistic syntax, and stylistic phonetics.

Problems of stylistics:

 1) One of the main problems and fields of investigation in stylistics is the problem of expressive means and stylistic devices on all linguistic levels. There are special means that secure the desirable effect of the utterance.        

2) The problem of synonymy in the widest notion of this word. The backbone of the whole concept of style and expressiveness is the concept of choice. There can be no question of style unless the speaker has the possibility of choosing between various forms of expression.

She looks beautiful.                

She looks gorgeous.

She looks like a million dollars.

She looks a knock-put.

In all these sentences primary information is just the same, but the connotations are quite different.        He came too soon, (neutral)        

He arrived prematurely, (lofty)

Such a choice may exist on any linguistic level. The language is so rich that it affords a great number of variants and ways of expressing one and the same notion or idea.

, 3) the problem of functional styles. Functional styles are different systems drawn from the national language peculiar to different spheres of communication. The choice of functional style is dictated by the considerations of propriety, i.e sphere of communication, character of interlocutors, the relations between them, their emotional state and educational background, their attitude to the subject matter of communication, the aim of communication.

4) The problem of the structure - norm - individual speech. By the structure of the language we mean the abstract level comprised by a collection of elements, a certain number of constituents, where all of them are interrelated and interdependent. The structure consists of the relations between the elements. It is the system of relations that constitutes the inner foundation of the language.

The norm is composed by the same total of generally accepted traditional forms in which this structure is realized.’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’        

Thus, the ideal system of relations (structure) finds its material realization in a collection of 'habits and rules of using  the language, accepted at a given period. Sometimes, it does not correspond to the structure of the language, e.g. in the structure "I" is the first person singular  which signifies the speaker alone and "we" denotes а цшЪф of speakers. In the norm this may be shifted:"We are discussing...", where "we" is used to designate the fi£Tst person singular

"How are we feeling today?" -"we" means "you"(the second person)singular) . Such usage is emotional, not neutral.      

The norm includes different subsystems of Ы*& realization of^^tfaKr"' structure. It consists of traditional, but not/necessarily correct forms, because alongside literary norm, there exist othel? norms: dia
lectal, popular, etc.        

Litarary norm is a narrower notion than the norm itself and its ; existence is determined not only by the degree of"usage, but also by t i| the authority of the sources, by the competence of the authors. fatLf сЦ^ ;i

Individual speech exists as concrete utterances, real texts7\It ?\ is conditioned by structure a.Mwd- and norm.

The language is constantly developing and what was"accepted as a traditional norm may become outdated^-a-nd—the—other way roundU

LECTURE TWO

FUNCTIONAL STYLES

Stylistics has its own categories and e^ts and functional sty. l£S is one of them. The word "style" is polysemantic and polyfunc-tional. It is a category of linguistics, literature, aesthetics, etc. Linguistically this term is used in the meaning of functional jstyle. which is a system of interrei^l4cfkgSSl^hm§fus    finite aim in communication.

There is no uniformity of views concerning the number and classification of functional styles. The problem of whether the language of fiction (imaginative literature) should be included into the system of functional styles, or whether jargons, dialects, slang may be regarded as functional styles remains open to discussion. Sometimes functional styles are mixed up with forms of speech (written or oral), with literary genres (drama, prose, poetry). It is not accidental that the classification of functional styles is sometimes made on the lines of genie differentiation in literature.

Thus, Lomonosov distinguished 5 styles: sublime, middle and low, which corresponded to genres in literature: epic poetry, drama and comedy. At that time there existed very strict and rigid rules of the. use of language means, of the choice of lexical, phonetic, phraseological means in each of these styles. In each genre linguistic systems wers closed poetic systems. Later on these genres ceased to be closed and mutually exclusive„systems. Though they certainly preserve peculia-rities of th£$r own, linguistically they cannot be identified with functional styles.

One of the points of wiew on the problem of classification of functional styles is represented by the classification of the Moscow school of linguists (Galperin, Budagov).

The classification of functional styles we are goings'to choose is that of the Leningrad school of stylists, including Arnold, Piot-rovsky, etc. In what they differ from the Moscow school is their approach to the language of fiction. They do not include the language of fiction into the system of functional styles. Imaginative literature is an individual creation of a writer who resorts to all the subsystems of^national language, both the norm with its functional styles and regional and social varieties and those layers that are not included into the norm. Thus, it is a peculiar conglomeration of functional styles, a peculiar reflection of the national language.

The sum total of all functional -styles isnaational language. Jargons and dialects lie outside the national language;*as only a li-r mited number of people use them.

The broadest division of functional styles*is into Formal(literary, bookish) and InformalCcolloquial) English.

The notion of functional style is connected the functions of the language; communicative, voImitative, emotive, phatic, aesthetic. Distinctive features of each functional style depend on -йвкн?social purpose and the combination of functions of the language in the given sphere of communication.

Formal English The Style of Scientific prose . iд.'А;>$/£/с / The aim of this style is to prove a hypothesis,"ro create new concepts, to disclose laws, relations between different phenomena, to pass on and sum up information, arrive at certain conclusions, etc. The language means used, therefore, tend to be objective, precise, unemotional, devoid of any individuality; there is a striving for the most generalised form of expression.

This functional style exists in the form of a lect,ure,j)a textbook, articles and other forms of scientific writing. They* may toe both written and oral.

Scientific style is meant for an educated reader, the addressee should be well-read in the corresponding branch of knowledge.: This style communicates precise information, hence the communicative function is present here. Since, as a rule, this style is not calculated at an immediate response there is no room for voluntative and phatic л functions. Emotive function may at times be present chiefly in the Vway of logical expressivity. Sometimes a scientific discussion or a special article may give a specialist 'great aesthetic pleasure.

The first and most noticeable feature of this style is the logical s_e£uence of utterances with clear indication of their interrelations and interdependence.

In the vocabulary of the scientific prose one may distinguish;
three layers:        

1) general words (neutral) - words that are most widely used,-that constitute the core of the language and may be found in any style. The general vocabulary employed in scientific prose bears its direct referential meaning, i.e. words used in scientific prose(will always tend to bejused in their primary logical; meaning. There are no words with contextual meaning. Even the possibility of ambiguity is avoided.

2)        special terms, specific to each given branch of science. This lawyer    3rs very rich in neologisms. Mo other field of human activity is so pro    lific in coining new words as science is. The necessity1 to penetrate deeper into the essence of things and phenomena gives rise to new concepts which require new words to nqme them. Hence Mre rapid creation of new terms in any developing science.

3)        general, scientific vocabulary (learned'.words) - most frequently used to pass on intellectual information in^exact and natural sciences anUHriumanities. &ere  belong such words as: constituent, phenomenon, initial, primary,  eterogenuous,exclude, etc. ^ere also belong:a number-of ready-made units: it is a well-known fact that...; it is pften .
assumed that...; it should be noted that...; etc.

logical peculiarities are as follows:   -

1. abundance of passive constructions which serve to express general statements about something without introducing the doer of the action;
2. abundance of constructions with the pronoun "one";

3. absence of interjections;
4. nominal character of the writing (the prevelanee of nouns)

5) peculiar use of pronouns (The syntax of "Wa^ scientific prose is carefully organised and is characterised by fullness and logical completeness. EMpsis is practically excluded. Sentences have a completed structure. Tha logical cbn-nection between the elements within a sentence (or sentences within a parapraph or chapter) is distinctly expressed. Hence the whole system of such connectors as as_we_ £>ee_,_in the_ Eas_sj*ge_aboveietci and conjunctions spj. thusA thejr^for^^thereby^ etc.. It will not %e  an exaggeration to say that in no other functional style do we find such a developed and varied system of connectives as in scientific prose.

There is a noticeable difference in the syntactical design of utterances in the exact sciences (mathematics, chemistry, physics, etc) and in the humanities. The passive constructions frequently used in the scientific prose of the exact sciences are not indispensable in the humanities. This, perhaps, is due to the fact that the data and meth.063 of investigation applied in the humanities are less objective.1;

Paragraphs are very important in the style of Scientific iprose.
They mark the completion of thoughtsand are a graphic means facilitat ing the reader's understanding.          

The outward appearance of the printed page in this style is very specific for it contains diagramms, pictures, photons, footnotes, num bering, lettering, titles of chapters and items, etc.

In fiction elements of scientific style are used for diffeAit

The object of linguo-stylistics may be defined as the study of *. the nature, functions and structure of SDs and EMs, щ  the one hand, and the study of the functional styles, on the other.'     A functional style of language is a system of interrelated ^language means which serves a definite aim in communication. A functional style is thus to be regarded as the product of a certain concrete task set by the sender of the message,rpunctional styles appear mainly in the literary standard of a language!

In the English literary standard we distinguish the following major functional styles:

1. the language of belles-lettres,
2. the language of publicistic literature,
3. the language of newspapers,

4) the language of scientific prose,

5) the language of official documents.

Each ES may be characterised by a number of distinctive features leading or subordinate, constant or changing, obligatory or optional. Most of the ESs, however, are perceived as independent wholes due to "" a peculiar combination and interrelation of features common to all with the leading ones of each ES.

Each ES is subdivided into a number of substyles. These represent varieties of the abstract invariant.

The belles-lettres ES has the following substyles: a) the language style of poetry; b) the language style of emotive prose; c) the language style of drama.

The publicistic ES comprises the following substyles: a) the language style of oratory; b) the language style of essays; c) the language style of feature articles in newspapers and journals.

The newspaper ES falls into a) the language style of brief newt items and communiques; b) the language style of newspaper headlines and c) the language style of notices and advertisements.

The official document ES can be divided into four varieties: a) the language style of diplomatic documents; b) the language style of business documents;^the language style of leagal documents; d) th< language style of military documents.

The classification presented .here is,,by.no means arbitrary.; It is the result of long and minute Observations of factual material in which not only peculiarities of language usage were taken into account but also extralinguistic data, in particular the purport of communication.        

LECTURE THREE

INFORMAL (COLLOQUIAL) ENGLISH

Colloquial English is used in casual speeclu in personal everyd^r two-way communication. Mostly it is an oral type of communication or speech. But written speech may also give (provide) examples of Informal English (e.g. letters, diaries, etc.). Informal English may be divided into the following subgroups:

1. literary colloquial;        
2. Familiar colloquial (which has a looser character and is more casual and irregular);
3. low colloquial or popular speech;        

4)        slang hanging on the outskirts of the national language;
5) non-literary layers (vulgarisms, dialects, etc).

Lij;erarj_ciollp£u:Lal. Eng_li_sh

This subgroup posesses in a milder form all the categories and characteristic features of colloquial, English, but in this case they are not so pronounced. Th^! ^tyleis ibomprised byjclre neutral stock of words, grammatical and phonetic means and it is W^tThe' background of literary colloquial English that all the other, subgroups of Informal English are evident as well as bookish styles are distinguished.

Literary colloguial lies between Formal and Infdrmal English. In common with the first oneyit £lsfr-e§eHfrfa^g1&s^ alal^fsms and vulgarisms; bookish words, foreign borrowings are rather frequent. Its syntax is in keeping with the rules and traditions of Formal, English, though it is much looser and less elaborate in constructions; sentences are usually shorter and not complicated. In common with Informal English it has interjections, words with evaluatory suffixes, etc.

The style-forming factors of literary colloquial are those functions of the language that are realized in this case: communicative, voluntative, phatic, emotive and sometimes aesthetic.

Famil>iar__cp.ll.o£uj.ali

This style of Informal English is much more emotional and free. All the distinctive features of Informal English are accentuated here. The style-forming factors of familiar colloquial are different language functions, realized in colloquial speech: mostly communicative, voluntative, phatic and emotive functions of the language. Since this functional style takes the form of two-way communication the phatic function is always present here. One reestablishes his speech contacts with his intelocutor many times during the conversation with the help of phrases aimed at attracting smb's attention: You know that, I  11 tell you tfhat, I say, etc.        

Voluntative function is also strongly felt, hence a lot of impeetive constructions and non- imperative means of urging: question-forms (Will you open the door?), the combination of."wish" and Sub-junctive two (I wish you listened to me), adverbs used absolutely (out with it), postpositional adverbs (off with you), the peculiar use of imperative sentences with the pronoun "you" used for the sake of emphasis.

vesence of emotive function results inrabundance of various intensifiers, emotionally charged' words, expressive and evaluatory means. For instance here belong emphatic exclamatory and interrogative constructions containing the combination of "how, when, where, who, which, what, why" and the word "ever or such expressions as "on earth, the devil, the hell":

Whatever are you doing?

However did you get in here?        

What on earth are you doing?

Who the devil do you think you are?

Why the hell do you ask?

Such emphatic constructions are usually connected with negative emotions: annoyance, reproach, irritation, etc.

Colloquial speech abounds in the use of intensifiers (terribly, awfully, beastly, etc.) which have completely lost their denotative meaning and become merely intensifiers.

There also exist some phonetic ways of expressing emotions, i.e. stressing form-words: She has asked for it! You don't have to laugh!

Among other style-forming factors are: the psychological conditions in which .the speaker finds himselfjthey are spontaneity, situational charactersrSnd immediate response,  immediacy of intercourse. Each of these factors finds its linguistic expression or reflection on various linguistic levels. All the peculiarities of colloquial English may be grouped according to these levels.

Lexical. p_ecXLiarities_. The use of colloquialisms, i.e. words belonging exclusively to Informal English and standing out on this account in the row of synonyms against the neutral and bookish :backgrourL. Besides this style is characterised by the use of nonce-words, i.e. *4>rds coined for one occasion according to the structural patterns of the language by means of/affixation, conversion, etc.: Don't my-desr-fe]_l2W-me_. That was masterly. Or one should.say mistres_sl,y. (Huxley) You are the. beste_st good one - (Bates)

One may also encounter a number of words and phrases serving as : time-fillers or stop-gaps, e.g.: well, you see, just, 'etc.      

This style abounds in ready -made colloquial patterns or ready-made phraseology, including formulars of greeting, agreement, disagreement, apology, gratitude, etc.        

Here also belong words of general semantics which are only specified in definite contexts: e.g. such verbs as do, get, go fix, make, turn, etc.; such nouns as thing, business, stuff, deal , matter, ,job; such adjectives as nice, ,jolly, lovely, etc.:

I'm fixing. (I'm dressing)

They were fixing the table. (They were ]aying the table)    

The doctor will fix you in no time. (The doctor will cure you)

On the whole in Informal speech a very limited' vocabulary is used, not very rich and refined at that. The vocabulary also reflects the general tendency towards ecomony, hence a number of abbreviations: frig, marg, vegs, sis, doc,etc.

Colloquial English is characterized by the wide use of short Vpr&s with postpositions: to %ive up, to go away, etc.

The tendency to compression (economy) is also realized on the morphological level in omission of auxiliaries: See what I mean? Seen any movies? Been travelling all the time, etc.        

One of the most preferable tense forms is the Present Continuous;
I am feeling bad.        

On the phonetic level the tendency towards compression finds its :realization in the abundance of contracted forms, i.e. in the phenomenon of phonetic reduction. It is a. most characteristic feature of  i the English colloquial speech. Take,for example: it's, It isn't,, don't,; you can't, you've, we'll, I'll, etc.        

Syntax. Colloquial syntax is characterized by incompleteness, here reign emotional, emphatic constructions, very vivid and expressive. :
The general rules of grammar serve here rather as the background than the actual realization. It is against this background that syntactical irregularities stand out. Numerous patterns of colloquial syntax may be suddivided into several groups, each of them reflecting peculiar tendencies of colloquial speech . As we know, there are tpomarten- ; dencies: towards economy (compression) and towards redundancy! The first group of syntactical patterns reflects^tendency towards compression of ; information and iff finds its realization on various levels of linguistics.

^ h'vP'A''sant along the streets looking in the windows. "(Hemingway)

Ellipsis is a typical phenomenon in conversation, arising out-of the situation. But this, typical feature of the spoken language assumes f  a new quality when used in the written language. It becomes a stylistic device inasmuch as it supplies additional information:
"So Justice Oberwaltzer - solemnly and didactically from his high  seat to the jury." (Dreiser)

Elliptical sentences are typical of everyday casual communication This manner of talking is accompanied by gestures, facial'"expressions, which reflect)(s the situational character of colloquial speech. The missing.members of the sentence may beea-Ic"o"&structed. .from the context:

Manager in?        

Nothing wrong, is there?

This your place?        

LECTURE FOUR

Epithet is an attributive characterization of a person, thing or phenomenon. Epithets on the whole show purely individual "emotional attitude of the speaker towards the object spoken of.''It"-''does- not define a property of the object spoken of, it describes the object as it ap-pears to the speaker. The epithet is markedly subjective and evaluative. The logical attribute is purely objective, non-evaluating. It is descriptive and indicates an inherent or prominent feature of theithirg or phenomenon in question.

Epithets may be classified from different standpoints: semantic and structural. Semantically, epithets may be divided into two groups: those ass_oc_iated_with the noun following and those unass_oc.ia.te_d with it

Asspc.iate_d epithets are those which point to a feature which is essential to the objects they describe: the idea expressed in the epithet is to a certain extent inherent in the concept of theJobject: fantastic terrors, careful attention,, dark forest, dreary midnight,etc

Unass_oc_iated epithets are attributes used to character'i3e "Ьпе object by adding a feature not inherent in it, i.e. a feature which may be so unexpected .as to strike the reader by its novelty, e;g.: heartburning smile, sullen earth, voiceless sands, etc.

Epithets may be divided into _Language(traditional) epithets and speech epithets. E.G.: sweet smile, deep feeling-, classic example, powerful influence; sleepless bay, slavish knees.

The process of strengthening the connection between the epithet and the noun may sometimes go as far as to build a specific unit which does not lose its poetic flavour. Such epithets are called fj.xed._and are mostly used in'ballads and- folk songs. Here are some examples of I fixed epithets: true love, dark forest, ^^jj£^oS|l good ship, brave cavaliers, etc.

From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be divided into _imp_e_ £ompound_ p_hra_e_and__,se_ntence_ ep_thj3_s. Simp_e_epithets are ordinary adjectives.

actives:..hearty ibur^ihg^sigh, sylph-like figures, cloud-shapen giant.

fh"ets are always placed before the nouns they refer to:

"Personally I detest her smug, my_te_ry_-making_ ^ome_-hithe_r-but-go-av;c

again-becaus_3-butte_r-w_u_dn' t m_e_t-in-mj-m2uth_exj)re_si_on."

An interesting structural detail of phrase and sentence epithets is that they are generally followed by the words "expression, air, attitude" and others which describe behaviour or facial expression,

Another structural variety of the epithet is the one which we,. shall term reversed. The reversed epithet is composed of two nouns linked in an of-phrase. The subjective, evaluating, emotional element is embodied not in the noun attribute but,in the noun structurally described, e.g.: the shadow of a smile, a devil of a job, a little Plying Dutchman of a cab, a dog of a fellow.

-lit will be observed that jruch epithets are metaphorical.; The nour to be assessed is contained in the of-phrase and the noun it qualifies is a metaphor (shadow, devil, Flying Dutchman, dog).

Prom the point of view of the distribution of the epithets in the sentence, the first model to be pointed out is the. s_tring_of epithets: "Such was„ the., background of the wonderful, cruel, enchanting, bewildering, fatal, great city. "(O.Henry)      

Another distributional model is the transferred epithet. Trans ferred epithets are ordinary logical attributes generally describing the state of a human being, but made to refer to an inanimate object,
for example: sick chamber, sleepless pillow, restless pace, merry hours, a disapproving finger.        An epithet may be based on an analogy when certain propertied of one class of things are reflected upon л  thing of another class. This is a metaphoric epithet-»- e.g.: "The submarine laughter was swelling, rising,ready to break the surface of silence."(A.Huxley),'or : "The dawn with silver-sandalled feet crept like a frightened girl." (O.Wilde)

The epithet is a direct and straightforward way of showing the author's attitude towards the things described, whereas other stylistic devices, even image-bearing ones, will reveal the: author's evaluation of the object only indirectly. That is probably why those authors who wish to show a seeming impartiality^ and objectivity in depicting their heroes and describing -events use few epithets.

Zeugma is a figure of speech which consists of one main element and a number of 'adjuncts. The adjuncts represent semantically different word-classes thus differing in the type and degree of cohesion with the main element, as in

"He had a good taste for wine and whiskey and an emergency bell in his bedroom."(Greene), where the. verb "had" simultaneously governs such two unrelated sequences as "a good taste for" and "an emergency bell".

The contrast between the syntactic identity of adjuncts and their semantic incompatibility is a means of creating different con-notative effects (humorous, ironic, etc.):    

Juan was a bachelor of arts, and partsj and hearts. (G.Byron)

Dora, plunging at once into the privileged ''intimacy and into the middle of the room. (B.Shaw)

 Oxymoron is a combination of two words (mostly an adjective and a noun or an adverb with an adjective) in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense:    

The enchanting tale, the tale of pleasing woe. (J.Keats)

"Oh, the sweetness of the pain." (Keats)

She was filled with a glad terror. (A.Myrer)

The wordy silence troubled her.(O.Wilde)

Doomed to liberty. (O.Henry)

The juxtaposition of two contrastive words is not in essence illogical for with the help of it the speaker emphasizes the complex nature of the thing spoken about. In the majority of cases the modifier conveys the author's or the character's personal at titude towards what is modified: sweet sorrow, glad terror, etc.
Frequently repeated oxymorons become trite and lexicalized.
Some of them are nothing other than intensifiers: awfully nice, mightly small, frightfully happy.        Original oxymorons do not often occur in texts but their scarcity, does not speak of their inexpressiveness. In fact, as already-stated, they help to reveal the inner contradictions that underlie objective phenomena; they are considered to be a special form of paradox.

Simile is based upon ~b£  analogy between two things, which are discovered to possess some'feature in common otherwise! being entirely dissimilar. For instance, G.Greene's simile "darkness when once it .fell, fell like a stone" is based on the discovered similarity between8"dark ness" and "stone" the latter suggesting suddenness, quickness and danger of the fallen darkness.

Other examples are: "...looking like a bird of paradise that had been out all night in the rain".(O.Wilde) ',Make^s""marpiage
^a^se-'^s^icer^'s'^paths., "^W.Shakespeare) .T        

The formal elements of a simile are:

1. a pair of objects (e.g. darkness+ston^; marriage vows+dicer's oaths);

1. a connective (like, as, as if, as though, such as, etc'*).

Not only conjunctions and adverbs but notional words (nouns, verbs prepositional phrases) as well as affixes (suffixes - -wise, -like) and comma - the substitute of a conjunction - can have the function of a connective in a simile, e.g.:

"She seemed nothing more than a dqll(PJ!(,A|>H^ixley)

_ve«-elm ы

"He resembled a professor in a five-elm "...with pe-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot."

(R.Stevenson)

All the above-mentioned formal elements make the simile an easily
recognizable unit of poetic speech.        

Ordinary comparison and simile must not be confused. They represenir two difnes^e processes. Comparison means weighing two objects be-longing to one class of things with the purpose of establishing the degree of their sameness op difference. To use a simile means to characterize one object by bringing it into contact with another object belonging to an entirely different class of things. Comparison takes into consideration all the properties of the two objects, stressing the one that is compared. Simile excludes all the properties of the two objects except one which is made common to them. For example, "The boy seems to be as clever as his mother" is ordinary comparison. "Boy" and "mother" belong to the same class of objects - human beings - so

this is not a simile but ordinary comparison.        

In the English language there is a long list of hackneyed similes pointing out the analogy between the various qualities, states or actions of a human being and the animals supposed to be the bearers of the given quality, etc., for example: sly as a fox, busy as a bee, to work like a horse, to swim like a duck, stubborn as a mule, thirsty as a camel, proud as a peacock, etc.