英语文体学Chapter 3 Surfacestructure Deviation.docx

1、英语文体学Chapter 3 Surfacestructure DeviationChapter 3 Surface-structure Deviation In this chapter, we will look at four types of surface-structure deviation. These are: phonological deviation, graphological deviation, syntactic deviation and lexical deviation. 3.1 Phonological Deviation Features at the

2、 phonological level function more by being overregular rather than being deviant, since they belong to the surface structure of the English language. However, the following phonological irregularities still need to be noted. 3.1.1 Omission 1) Aphesis - the omission of an initial part of a word, e.g.

3、 (1) Thou on whose stream, mid the steep skys commotion, Loose clouds like earths decaying leaves are shed, (P. B. Shelley, Ode to the West Wind) The complete form of mid in the line is amid. 2) Syncope - the omission of a medial part of a word, e.g. (2) A voice so thrilling neer was heard In spring

4、-time from the cuckoo-bird, Breaking the silence of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides. (Wordsworth, The Solitary Reaper) The original form of neer in the first line is never. 3) Apocope - the omission of a final part of a word, e.g. (3) Till a the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi the

5、 sun I will love thee still, my dear, While the sands o life shall run. (Robert Burns, A Red, Red Rose) Here, Burns has used a for all, wi for with and o for of. The omissions discussed above are conventional licenses of verse composition. They change the pronunciations of the original words so that

6、 the poet may better and more easily arrange sound patterns to achieve their intended communicative effects. 3.1.2 Mispronunciation and Sub-standard Pronunciation In order to vividly describe a character, the literary writer may choose to let his character mispronounce certain words or simply pronou

7、nce them in sub-standard ways. Consider the examples in the following passages. (4) Aha! said the undertaker, glancing over it with a lively countenance, an order for a coffin, eh? For a coffin first, and a porochial funeral afterwards. replied Mr. Bumble, fastening the strap of the leathern pocket

8、book: which, like himself, was very corpulent. Bayton, said the undertaker, looking from the scrap of paper to Mr. Bumble, I never heard the name before. Bumble shook his head, as he replied, Obstinate people, Mr. Sowerberry, very obstinate. Proud, too, Im afraid, sir. Proud, eh? exclaimed Mr. Sower

9、berry with a sneer. Come, thats too much. Oh, its sickening, replied the beadle. Antimonial, Mr. Sowerberry! So it is, acquiesced the undertaker. We only heard the family the night before last, said the beadle; and we shouldnt have known anything about them, then, only a woman who lodges in the same

10、 house made an application to the porochial committee for them to send the porochial surgeon to see a woman as was very bad. He had gone out to dinner; but his prentice (which is a very clever lad) sent em some medicine in a blacking-bottle, off-hand. Ah, theres promptness, said the undertaker. Prom

11、ptness, indeed! replied the beadle. But whats the consequence, whats the ungrateful behaviour of these rebels, sir? Why, the husband sends back word that the medicine wont suit his wifes complaint, and so she shant take it - says she shant take it, sir! Good, strong wholesome medicine, as was given

12、with great success to two Irish laborers and a coalheaver, only a week before - sent em for nothing, with a blackin-bottle in, and he sends back word that she shant take it, sir! (Dickens, Oliver Twist) (5) May God starve ye yet, yelled an old Irish woman who now threw open a nearby window and stuck

13、 out her head. Yes, and you, she added, catching the eye of one of the policemen. You bloody murthering thafe! Crack my son over the head, will you, you hard-hearted, murthering divil? Ah, ye- (T. Dreiser, Sister Carrie) (6) Arve moved, he said, Darn ear. And all the click? I asked him. All the noto

14、rious Dockhead boys? Not vclick, said Ed-Ted. Jus me. And why, Ed, I said, have you moved darn ear? Cos me Ma as, he said. Shes bin re-owsed. So you still live with Momma? I enquired. Course, he said. Big boys like you hasnt got his own hidey-hole? I asked. Lissen, he said. I respect my Mar. Cool, m

15、an, I said. Now tell me. What about the mob, the click? Have they been re-owsed as well? Ner, he said. Ner? What, then? The clicks split up. You mean, I said, that bunch of tearaways have thrown you out? Eh-y? he cried. You heard, Ed. Youve been expelled from the Ted College? Naher! Me? Espel me? Wo

16、t? Lissen! Me, R lef them, see? You fink Im sof, or sumfink? (C. Maclnnes, Absolute Beginners) In Dickens passage, we may notice that Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle, mispronounced the word parochial /paeretil/ (meaning: of or relating to a parish) as porochial /poretil/ three times (lines 3, 21 and 2

17、2), and mispronounced blacking-bottle /blaekibotl/ as blackin-bottle /blaekinbotl/ (line 34). He also swallowed up certain sounds several times: prentice for apprentice (line 23), em for them (lines 23 and 34). We may also notice that he misused antimonial for the word antinomian (line 15). Why does

18、 Dickens describe Mr. Bumble in such a way? If we read the other parts of the novel, we will find that although Mr. Bumble was the lowest in rank as a parish officer, yet he considered himself important and liked to put on airs before those whom he considered to be inferior to him. He was hypocritic

19、al, mean, and unsympathetic. His mispronunciations, sub-standard pronunciations and misuse of a word in the passage rightly capture his pretence and pompousness. In trying to show his importance by using long and technical words beyond his command, he only revealed his incompetence. By presenting wh

20、at he said and how he said it instead of by direct authorial comment, Dickens has highly succeeded in portraying the character. It is small wonder then that some years after the publication of the novel, bumble became an English word and was recorded in the major English dictionaries. In Dreisers pa

21、ssage, the old Irish woman was depicted as speaking in a sub-standard fashion: ye for you, murthering for murdering, divil for devil, and thafe for thief. The employment of such deviant phonological features here, it seems, adds vividness to the happening as if it was the live transmission of the sc

22、ene. Her accent also reveals that she is a working-class woman. In extract (6), the writer has respelled many words to indicate a London Cockney accent. To see the effect of these respellings, read the version of the text in normal spelling below: Ive moved, he said, down here. And all the clique, I

23、 asked him. All the notorious Dock-head boys? Not the clique, said Ed-Ted. Just me. And why, Ed, I said, have you moved down here? Because my Ma has, he said. Shes been re-housed. So you still live with Momma? I enquired. Course, he said. Big boys like you hasnt got his own little hidey-hole? I aske

24、d. Listen, he said. I respect my ma. Cool, man, I said. Now, tell me. What about the mob, the clique? Have they been re-housed as well? No, he said. No? What, then? The cliques split up. You mean, I said, that bunch of tearaways have thrown you out? Eh? he cried. You heard, Ed. Youve been expelled f

25、rom the Ted College? No! Me? Expel me? What? Listen! Me, I left them, see? You think Im soft, or something? As can be felt, the version in normal spelling loses much of the vividness of the original dialogue. The roughness of a gang member and his lack of education portrayed in the original text are

26、 gone. 3.1.3 Special Pronunciation For convenience of rhyming, the poet may give special pronunciation to certain words, e.g. (7) The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind, If winter comes, can spring be far behind? (P. B. Shelley, Ode to the West Wind) In this poem, the noun wind /wind/ is pronounced like

27、 the verb wind /waind/ to rhyme with behind. 3.1.4 Change of Stress Some 19th-century poets placed word stresses in unusual places, e.g. baluster (Tennyson). Why do poets incorporate such changes? Is it merely for exigencies of metre, or because of archaic affection, or obedience to some obscure pri

28、nciple of euphony? Leech (1969) admits that he finds such stress changes hard to determine.3.2 Graphological Deviation By graphology is meant the encoding of meaning in visual symbols. Deviation at this level seems to be much more interesting, but has been sadly neglected in literary discussions in

29、the past. Graphological deviation can occur in any sub-area of graphology, such as the shape of the text, the type of print, grammetrics, punctuation, indentation, etc. In this section, we will chiefly consider deviation in the first three sub-areas, since we will obviously be unable to examine all

30、of them. 3.2.1 Shape of Text The shape of a piece of literary work, especially a poem, can be designed in an unconventional way so that it may be suggestive of a certain literary theme. To illustrate this point, let us look at the poem below. (8) (R. Draper, Target Practice) The shape of the poem strikes us as most unusual because it is not like that of a conventional poem. When we look more closely at the wording, and use some imagination, we may begin to speculate on why the poet has designed the poe