Chapter 6

“Stylistic Characteristics of Lexical Expressive

Means”

♦ Basic Lexis-It can be classified according to different criteria: •standard vs. non-standard words, •abstract vs. concrete words, •colloquial vs. literary(bookish), •colloquial vs. technical terms, etc.

♥The overlap of all these categories creates a group of neutral words which are commonly known as standard vocabulary.

•Nominal Style-abounds in nouns-mainly static-The long sentences prevail in this style because many facts and data have to be provided.

•Verbal Style-abounds in verbs-very dynamic-The lexis used in this style denotes processes (processual lexis)

♦Qualifying Lexis-They are mainly adjectives, adverbs and numerals.-They are mainly used to modify nouns and verbs, and to express qualities of persons, things and processes.-Some adjectives, being part of a nominal phrase, undergo interesting changes within the process of language development. What is known as univerbalisation can be compared with the word-forming process in English called conversion.

♥In univerbalisation, the main idea is to reduce a noun phrase into a single word expression (mainly) in spoken colloquial language which brings about a change of stylistic characteristics (e.g. wise =wisdom; strong = strength).

♥In the case of English conversion the change of stylistic characteristics does not always take place (e.g. to call = a call, to go = ago, empty = to empty, carpet = to carpet, etc.).

♦Grammatical Lexis-It is present in every language and its main function is to enable the construction of (smaller or bigger units of) utterances which are in accordance with the grammar of particular languages.

♦ Historically Marked Lexis-It always brings expressiveness to the text.-The following groups of words are always stylistically marked, that is they create expressiveness in the text.

►anachronism ►archaisms►historicisms►neologisms

-It is not common to use these terms in English stylistics.

Discussing archaic lexis, I. Galperin refers to: •Obsolescent words - gradually passing out of use. •Obsolete words - already gone completely but still recognized by the speakers. •Archaic proper - no longer recognizable in modern English.♥Thee, thou, thy/thine from Old English

→ OLD 2nd person singular pronoun→ Still used in

Biblical/Shakespearian/poetical language. Also still used in northern dialects of British English e.g. Yorkshire.

Archaism.- It is a word or phrase which are outdated, obsolete and out of use.

♥ enow - enough♥ aye - yes♥ nay - no♥ ruth - pity; sorrow♥ twain - two

Anachronism.It is basically an error in chronology or timeline in a piece of art or literature. A better interpretation of the term is that anything that seems out of the timeline or out of place, is an anachronism.

♥ William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

Brutus: Peace! count the clock.Cassius: The clock has stricken

three.

Historicisms.-Words that have ceased to be used in connection with the disappearance they stand objects and phenomena: bursa, caftan, burgomaster. -Historicism  found in the main text of the past (as in science and in art). 

Neologism.- It is a newly coined term, word, or phrase, that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language

♥ noob – someone who is new to an online community♥ racne – acne located at women’s chest

♦ Professionally Marked Lexis-It is represented by the group of words called professionalisms. -Professional expressions often create a whole complex of language means which is known as professional slang or jargon (informal language of people of the same profession or professional interests).

•Jargons used by Doctors♥ D.M. : Diabetes mellitus.♥ O.D. : Right eye.♥ O.S. : Left eye.♥ VSS : Vital signs are stable. ♥ Schizophrenia: a mental disorder marked by hallucinations

♦ Expressive lexis- In stylistics, we often discuss the lexis which creates expressiveness in utterances. - Lexemes also have an emotional function and can create emotiveness. (Emotive Function means to show or/and create emotions.) “All emotive lexis is expressive, but not all expressive lexis is emotional.”

1. EuphemismIt is a generally harmless word or phrase that replaces an offensive or suggestive one. ♥ pass away / come to Jesus > die♥ big boned > fat♥ Wear apron high >Pregnant♥ Comfort woman >Prostitute♥ confirmed bachelor >Male homo♥ bye-bye box>coffin, cask♥ senior citizen, golden age >old, elderly♥ acting like rabbits>having sex

2. Meliorative-It is a word or phrase that makes better or improves the meaning.♥ illegitimate child > love child

3. Pejoratives-It is a word or grammatical form that connotes negativity and expresses contempt or distaste. ♥ die = go West.♥ Chicken = a coward♥ Fruitcake = a crazy / eccentric person♥ Rat = a horrible, nasty person

4. Vulgarisms-It is a colloquialism of an unpleasant action or unrefined character, which substitutes a coarse, indecorous word.

♥ Cunt - disliked female; "bitch".♥ Mattress Topper – a prostitute

5. LaudativeIt is a word or grammatical form that denote a positive affect.

♥ “He's a saint.”(for a helpful person) ♥ “This is ambrosia.”(for a meal)♥ "What a house!"

6. Diminutive-It is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object, intimacy, or endearment.

♥ -ette/-et – kitchenette; wallet♥ -ster – youngster; gangster♥ -ie – doggie; Charlie; cookie

7. AugmentativeIt is a word which expresses greater intensity, often in size, but also in other attributes.

♥ -over - overlord and overseer. ♥ -grand - grandmaster and grandparent. ♥ -super - supermarket and superpower. ♥ -mega - megastore and megastar.

♦ Lexis of Foreign Origin-It is represented by borrowed and loan-words. They are foreign terms used in English language such as those coming from French, Latin, Greek, Chinese, etc.

-Some of these words are specific for the language communities living in Europe thus they are sometime called Europeisms.

Examples:♥ Boondocks(Tagalog) an out-of-the-way place meaning ‘mountain’♥ Bravo(Breton) a cry of encouragement. ♥ Typhoon(Mandarin) a very strong wind♥ Shampoo(Hindi) a hair-cleaning detergent♥ Crochet(French) hook

♦ Phraseological lexis-It is a powerful means of expressiveness. The terms collocation and idioms are most frequently used to refer to different, the same or multi-words expressions.

Idioms - is an expression consisting of a combination of words that have a figurative meaning.

Examples: ♥ HIT BELOW THE BELT - To act in an unfair matter ♥ PULL UP ONE’S SOCKS - To make an effort to improve ♥ TURN OVER A NEW LEAF - Changing your better for the better ♥ BREAK THE ICE - Overcome initial shyness ♥ THROW IN THE TOWEL - To accept defeat

Flowery Language The use of flowery language provides interesting material for stylistic study.♥ Too many cooks spoil the broth >Too great a number of culinary assistan0ts may impair the flavour of the consomm

♥Univerbalization/Univerbalism - the tendency to make expressions shorter. Colloquial Speech exhibits towards brevity, or shortened expressions. →Clippings - spectacle =specs →Acronyms - CD = Compact Disk

♥Multiverbalism - the tendency to use more words instead of one. sanitary engineer =garbage mancustodial engineer =custodianPreowned car =secondhand car

6.2 Stylistic Value of Particular Parts of WordsParticular parts of words, that is prefixes, suffixes and infixes, can exhibit various stylistic values.

○ The prefix ex- often brings about expressiveness •ex-wife •ex-boss •ex-president •her ex-

○ Infixes- It is an affix inserted inside a word stem (an existing word). ♥ abso-bloomin-lutely ♥ Hallebloodylujah / Singabloodypore! ♥ unbeflippinglievable ♥ fanfrigginstastic

6.3 Synonymy and Polysemy• Synonymy is a collection of synonyms often defined from each other.

• Polysemy is a word, phrase, signs etc. that tends to have multiple related meanings (sememes) ♥ Wood

→a piece of a tree→a geographical area with

many trees

•Tautology-It uses different words to say the same thing, or a series of self-reinforcing statements that cannot be disproved because they depend on the assumption that they are already correct

♥ A round circle♥ A big giant♥ An elephant is an animal. ♥ Facts are facts. 

Paronymy-The relationship between one word and another belonging to a different syntactic category and production from the first one by some process of derivation. They are simply words with the same roots.

♥ act / actor♥ cook / cooker♥ fertilize / fertilizer

Figura Etymologica / Paronomasia -It is the intentional grouping of words with the same roots but different morphological categories.

•Combination of a verb and related noun : ♥ Fight the fighter. ♥ Hammer the hammer.•Combinations of an adjective and noun : ♥ Actors act. ♥ Wimping wimp.

Palindrome-It is an expression which also makes sense (the same or different) when read backwards.

♥ ave = eva♥ RADAR♥ EVE♥ murder / redroom (redrum)

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