Chapter 4Lexical and Syntacticlevel Stylistic analysis.docx

Chapter 4Lexical and Syntacticlevel Stylistic analysis.docx

《Chapter 4Lexical and Syntacticlevel Stylistic analysis.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Chapter 4Lexical and Syntacticlevel Stylistic analysis.docx（16页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

Chapter4LexicalandSyntacticlevelStylisticanalysis

Chapter4Lexical-andSyntactic-LevelStylisticAnalysis

RevisionofChapter3:

1）Elision,mispronunciation,andsubstandardpronunciation

2）Soundpatterning

3）Onomatopoeia

4）Metricalpatterning

Contentsofthischapter:

1.Introduction

2.Lexicalandsyntacticdeviation

2.1Lexicaldeviation

2.2Syntacticdeviation

2.2.1WangShouyuan’sdiscussiononsyntacticdeviations

2.2.2WangZuoliang&DingWangdao’sdiscussiononsyntacticdeviationsandliterarywriting

3.Syntacticoverregularity

3.1Repetition

3.2Parallelism

3.3Antithesis

3.4Climaxandanticlimax

3.5Palindrome,RegressionandChiasmus

4.Leech&Short’s（2001）approachtolexical-andsyntactic-levelstylisticanalysis

5.AModelforanalyzinggrammatical-levelstylisticfeatures

6.Suggestedareasforfurtherstudy

7.Summary

1.Introduction

AccordingtoThornborrow&Wareing（2000:

75-76）,literarinessoflanguage,whichisroughlyequalto“literarystyle”,referstoforegroundingorsaliencyofgrammaticalstructures,whichisrealizedthroughthedeviantuseoflanguage（i.e.,deviation）.

Inliterarytexts,thegrammaticalsystemoflanguageisoftenexploited,experimentedwith,orinMukarowsky’swords,madeto“deviate”fromother,moreeveryday,formsoflanguage,andasaresultcreatesinterestingnewpatternsinformandinmeaning.Onewayisthroughtheuseofnon-conventionalstructuresthatseemtobreaktherulesofgrammar,i.e.,deviantstructuresormarkedstructures.

Anotherwayinwhichliterarylanguagecandeviatefromotherkindsoflanguageuseisbydisruptingtheusualorderofwordsinasentence,inotherwords,bymakinguseofmarkedwordorder,whichisrepresentativeoftheuseofmarkedtheme.Inthissense,deviantformsaremarkedforms,whichcontributetotheformationofliterarinessoflanguage.

However,theaboveviewisincomplete.InlightofWangShouyuan（2000:

11-22）,foregroundingorsaliencyinliteratureisachievednotonlythroughdeviationbutalsothroughoverregularityingrammaticalstructures.Thus,thestylisticanalysisatthelexicalandsyntacticlevelshereistoembracebothdeviationandoverregularity.

2.Lexicalandsyntacticdeviation

Leech（2001/1969）identifieseighttypesoflinguisticdeviation,namely,lexicaldeviation,grammaticaldeviation,phonologicaldeviation,graphologicaldeviation,semanticdeviation,dialectaldeviation,deviationofregister,anddeviationofhistoricalperiod.Thefirstfourtypesareclassifiedbyassurface-structuredeviationwhilesemanticdeviationisreferredtoasdeep-structuredeviation（WangShouyuan,2000:

21）.

Asisknown,phonologicaldeviationhasbeendiscussedinthelastchapter.Inthischapter,wewillfocusonthefirsttwotypeswiththeotherstobedealtwithinotherchapters.Anditshouldbepointedoutthattheterm“syntactic”willbeusedinsteadofLeech’s“grammatical”asourdiscussionwillbeconfinedtosyntax-leveldeviation.

2.1Lexicaldeviation

Lexicaldeviationinliteraturerefersalmostexclusivelytoneologismsorthecoinageofnewwords.Inthecoinageofnewwords,theliterarywriterusuallyextends（ratherthanbreak）threemajorrulesofword-formation:

affixation,compoundingandconversion（WangShouyuan,2000:

45-50）.Considerthefollowingexamples:

Therewasabalconyfulofgentlemen.（Chesterton）

Weleftthetownrefreshedandrehatted.（Fotherhill）

Thewidow-makingunchildingunfatheringdeeps（G.M.Hopkins,TheWreckoftheDeutschland）[=theseawhichdeprive（wives）ofhusbands,（parents）ofchildrenand（children）offathers]

Itbeggaredalldescription.（Shakespeare,AnthonyandCleopatra）

Hewordsme,girls,hewordsmethatIshouldnot

Benobletomyself.（Shakespeare,AnthonyandCleopatra）

Inadditiontothecoinageofnewwordsviatheabovementionedthreeword-formationways,thereisanotherkindoflexicaldeviation,namelythedeviantuseofsuperlativeforms.Inliterarywriting,thewritersometimeschoosestousethe-estsuffixtostandforthe“themost+adj.”superlativeformforsomestylisticorrhetoricalpurposes.Forexample,inthefollowingwork,thedeviantuseofthesuperlativeformhelpstoformtheparallelstructurerunningthroughthewholesentence:

Ithasthepoorestmillionaire,thelittlestgreatmen,thehaughtiestbeggars,theplainestbeauties,thelowestskyscrapers,thedolefulestpleasuresofanytownIeversaw.（O.Henry）

Intheaboveexample,thenonceword“littlest”refersto“least”while“dolefulest”means“mostdoleful”.

2.2Syntacticdeviation

2.2.1WangShouyuan’sdiscussiononsyntacticdeviations

Syntacticdeviationreferstodeparturesfromnormalsurfacegrammar,whichincludeanumberoffeaturessuchasdeviantphrasestructures,markedclausethemes,deviantuseofgrammaticalrules,anddeviantsentencelength.

2.2.1.1Deviantphrasestructure

Inordertoachievecertaincommunicativeeffects,literarywritersmayusephrasesthatarestructurallydeviant.Forexample,

Donotgogentleintothatgoodnight.（DoNotGoGentleintoThatGoodNight）

OWhatanoblemindishereo’erthrown!

Thecourtier’s,soldier’s,scholar’s,eye,tongue,sword.（W.Shakespeare,Hamlet）

2.2.1.2Markedclausetheme

Theinitialunitofaclausemaybecalleditstheme.Thethememaybecharacterizedasthecommunicativedeparturefortherestoftheclause.Inliterarywriting,thewritermayplaceanyelementofaclauseinthethematicpositioninordertoachievecertainliteraryeffect.Thethemethusproducedisunusualandisthereforecalleda“markedtheme”.（WangShouyuan,2000:

39-40）Forinstance,

Thered-hairedwoman,smiling,wavingtothedisappearingshore.Sheleftthemaharajah;sheleftinnumerableotherlightso’passingloveintownsandcitiesandtheatresandrailwaystationsallovertheworld.ButMelchiorshedidnotleave.（A.Carter,WiseChildren）

2.2.1.3Deviantuseofgrammaticalrules

Inliterarywriting,thewritermaychoosetoviolategrammaticalrulesforsomespecificrhetoricalorstylisticeffects.Belowarethreetypesofsuchdeliberateviolationsofgrammaticalrules.

1）Themisuseoftenseforms

youpaysyourmoneyandyoudoesn’ttakeyourchoice.（e.e.cummings,whymustitselfupeveryofapark）

Itisthepoet’sdaringviolationofgrammaticalrule,signalingherethat“youcannotgetwhatyoulikebypayingmoney”:

Thestrangephenomenonissignaledbythedeviantlanguageusedtodescribeit,whichisacaseoficonicity,wheretheungrammaticalusesignalstheabnormalsocialphenomenon.

2）Theomissionofarticles

Thereheadfallsforward,fatiguedatevening,

Anddreamsofhome,

Wavingfromwindow,spreadofwelcome,

Kissingofwifeundersinglesheet;

Butwakingsees

Bird-flocksnamelesstohim,throughdoorwayvoices

Ofnewmenmakinganotherlove.（W.H.Auden,TheWanderer）

Theellipticaluseofarticlesherecuesthehomelessvagabondinglifeofthevagabond,implyingthatnothingisfixedforvagabonds.

3）Theuseofnon-conventionalsentencestructures

Thered-hairedwoman,smiling,wavingtothedisappearingshore.Sheleftthemaharajah;sheleftinnumerableotherlightso’passingloveintownsandcitiesandtheatresandrailwaystationsallovertheworld.ButMelchiorshedidnotleave.（A.Carter,WiseChildren）

Sentencesnormallyconsistofasubjectandapredicate,andthepredicatenormallycontainsaverbphrase.However,thefirstsentenceherecontainsnomainfiniteverb,andthereforeshouldnotoccurasanindependentunit,butlooksasthoughitshouldbelinkedtoanotherclause.Yethereitdoesoccuronitsown.

2.2.1.4Deviantsentencelength

Inliterarywriting,thewritermaychoosetoexploitsuper-longorsuper-shortsentencesfordifferentstylisticpurposesandeffects,forexample,theformerfortheexpressionofcomplexcontentwhilethelatterforquickpace,whicharecasesofquantityiconicity.Fortheformercase,considerthefollowingthreeexamples:

（1）Childreninfamine,victimstorturedbyoppressors,helplessoldpeopleahatedburdentotheirsons,andthewholeworldofloneliness,poverty,andpainmakeamockeryofwhathumanlifeshouldbe.（BertrandRussell,WhatIHaveLivedfor）

Ofthe34wordsinthissentence,thesubjectconsistsof25,forminganunbalancedstructureaccordingtoEnglishdictionintermsofasentence,henceasentencewithtoolongandbigasubject,orsimplyamarkedsubjectorthemeaccordingtothefunctionalperspectiveofsentenceoffunctionalgrammar.Asamatteroffactthedeliberatechoiceofsolongasubjectisforthesakeofproducingaheavyfeelingonthepartofthereaderintermsofthehighdegreeofhumananguishoragony.

（2）在昨天、今天和明天之间，在父与子与孙之间，在山村二郎神担过的巨石与十七层的部长楼之间，在海云的在天之灵与拴福大嫂新买的瓷碗之间，在李谷一的“洁白羽毛”和民国十八年咸菜汤之间，在肮脏、混乱而又辛苦经营的交通食堂和外商承印的飞行时刻表之间，在秋文的目光、冬冬的执拗、四九年的腰鼓，七六年的旅行，在小石头、张指导员、张书记、老张头和张副部长之间，分明有一种联系，有一座充满光荣和陷阱的桥。

（王蒙《蝴蝶》）

Thisisasentencecomposedoftwoparts:

alongadverbialconsistingofsevenparallelphrasesandtwoparallel“verb+subject”structures.AccordingtoLiandThompson（1981）,Chineseisatopic-prominentlanguage,incontrastwithEnglishthatisasubject-prominentlanguage.AndinthelightofCaoFengfu（1995:

50）,adverbialcanactastopic.Basedonsuchatheory,theabnormallylongadverbialservesasthetopic,theFIGURE,inthissentence.Inotherwords,thesemanticfocusisplacedonthelongadverbial.WangYichuan（1997:

395）holdsthatsuchanexcessivelylongtopic,whichisdeliberatelychosenandarrangedbytheauthortotakeontherichandcomplexmainidea,helpstoconnectthepasttothepresentandtodelineatethecomplexfeelingsofthecharactersportrayed.

（3）AstheTonnerreshadincreased,theirsettl