Read the text and do the exercise

Our next concern is a cluster of SDs, which are united into a small group as they have much in common both in the mechanism of their formation and in their functioning. They are - pun (also referred to as paronomasia)and zeugma. In the stylistic tradition of the English-speaking countries only the first two are widely discussed. The latter two, indeed, may be viewed as slight variations of the first ones for, basically, the foursome perform the same stylistic function in speech, and operate on the same linguistic mechanism: namely, one word-form is deliberately used in two meanings. The effect of these SDs is humorous. Contextual conditions leading to the simultaneous realization of two meanings and to the formation of pun may vary: it can be misinterpretation of one speaker's utterance by the other, which results in his remark dealing with a different meaning of the misinterpreted word or its homonym, as in the famous case from the Pickwick Papers When the fat boy, Mr. Wardle's servant, emerged from the corridor, very pale, he was asked by his master: "Have you been seeing any spirits?" "Or taking any?" - added Bob Alien. The first "spirits" refers to supernatural forces, the second one - to strong drinks.

Punning may be the result of the speaker's intended violation of the listener's expectation, as in the jocular quotation from B. Evans "There comes a period in every man's life, but she is just a semicolon in his." Here we expect the second half of the sentence to unfold the content, proceeding from "period" understood as "an interval of time", while the author has used the word in the meaning of "punctuation mark" which becomes clear from the "semicolon", following it.

Misinterpretation may be caused by the phonetic similarity of two homonyms, such as in the crucial case of O. Wilde's play The Importance of Being Ernest.

In very many cases polysemantic verbs that have a practically unlimited lexical valency and can be combined with nouns of most varying semantic groups, are deliberately used with two or more homogeneous members, which are not connected semantically, as in such examples from Ch. Dickens: "He took his hat and his leave", or "She went home, in a flood of tears and a sedan chair". These are cases of classical zeugma, highly characteristic of English prose.

Exercise III. Analyse various cases of play on words, indicate which type is used, how it is created, what effect it adds to the utterance:

1. After a while and a cake he crept nervously to the door of the parlour. (A. T.)

2 There are two things I look for jn a man. A sympathetic character and full lips. (I.Sh.)

3. Dorothy, at my statement, had clapped her hand over her mouth to hold down laughter and chewing gum. (Jn.B.)

4. I believed all men were brothers; she thought all men were husbands. I gave the whole mess up. (Jn.B.)

5. In December, 1960, Naval Aviation News, a well-known special publication, explained why "a ship" is referred to as "she": Because there's always a bustle around her; because there's usually a gang of men with her; because she has waist and stays; because it takes a good man to handle her right; because she shows her topsides, hides her bottom and when coming into port, always heads for the buyos." (N.)

6. When I am dead, I hope it may be said:

"His sins were scarlet, but his books were read." (H. B.)

7. Most women up London nowadays seem to furnish their rooms with nothing but orchids, foreigners and French novels. (O.W.)

8. I'm full of poetry now. Rot and poetry. Rotten poetry. (H)

9. "Bren, I'm not planning anything. I haven't planned a thing in three years... I'm - I'm not a planner. I'm a liver."

"I'm a pancreas," she said. "I'm a —" and she kissed the absurd game away. (Ph. R.)

10. "Someone at the door," he said, blinking.

"Some four, I should say by the sound," said Fili. (A. T.)

11. He may be poor and shabby, but beneath those ragged trousers beats a heart of gold. (E.)

12. Babbitt respected bigness in anything: in mountains, jewels, muscles, wealth or words. (S.L.)

13. Men, pals, red plush seats, white marble tables, waiters in white aprons. Miss Moss walked through them all. (M.)

14. My mother was wearing her best grey dress and gold brooch and a faint pink flush under each cheek bone. (W.G1.)

15. Hooper laughed and said to Brody, "Do you mind if I give Ellen something?"

"What do you mean?" Brody said. He thought to himself, give her what? A kiss? A box of chocolates? A punch in the nose?

"A present. It's nothing, really." (P.B.)

16. "There is only one brand of tobacco allowed here - "Three nuns". None today, none tomorrow, and none the day after." (Br. B.)

17. "Good morning," said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining and the grass was very green. (A.T.)

18. Some writer once said: "How many times you can call yourself a Man depends on how many languages you know." (M.St.)

Проблемные вопросы по 2-модулю:

1. What types of language connection are known?

2. What are the main characteristics of oral speech?

3. Enumerate functional styles of contemporary English.

4. Discuss the peculiarities of the newspaper style.

5. What are the main features of the publicistic style?

6. What is the status of the Belles-lettres style among other styles?

7. Speak about the difference between Colloquial and Literary type of communication.

8. Discuss the peculiarities of Oral and Written forms of communication.

Обязательная и дополнительная литература по модулям:

а) основная литература:

1. Арнольд И.В. Стилистика современного английского языка. Л., Просвещение, 1981.

2. Гальперин И.Р. Стилистика английского языка. М., 1977.

3. Кузнец М.Д., Скребнев Ю.М. Стилистика английского языка. Л., 1960.

4. Гальперин И.Р. Очерки по стилистике английского языка. М., 1958.

5. Кухаренко В.А. Семинарий по стилистике английского языка. М., 1971.

6. Кухаренко В.А. Практикум по стилистике английского языка. М., 1986.

7. Мороховский А.Н., Воробьева О.П., Тимошенко З.В. Стилистика английского языка. Киев, 1984

8. Скребнев Ю.М. Основы стилистики английского языка. Москва, Высшая школа, 1994

б) дополнительная литература:

1. Арнольд И.В. Интерпретация английского художественного текста. Л., 1983.

2. Гальперин И.Р. Опыты стилистического анализа. М., ВШ, 1968.

3. Кухаренко В.А. Интерпретация текста. Л., Просвещение, 1979.

4. Розенталь Д.Э., Теленкова М.А. Словарь-справочник лингвистических терминов. М., Просвещение, 1976.

5. Мосткова С.Л., Смыкалова Л.Я., Чернявская С.П. Английская литературоведческая терминология. Л., Просвещение, 1967.

6. Солганник Г.Я. Синтаксическая стилистика. М., 1973.

7. Резинкина И.М. Стилистика английской научной речи. М., 1972.

8. Прохорова В.И., Сошальская Е.Г. Хрестоматия английской лингвистической литературы по стилистике. М., МГПИИЯ.

9. Пелевина И.Ф. Стилистический анализ художественного текста. Л., 1980.

10. Вопросы языкознания (журнал).

11. Иностранные языки в школе (журнал).

12. Иностранные языки в высшей школе (периодика).