Phonographical stylistic devices

SD based on the opposition of meanings of phonological and/or graphical elements of the language are called phonetical and graphical stylistic devices.

Onomatopoeia - the use of words whose sounds imitate those of the signified object or action, such as "hiss", "bowwow", "murmur", "bump", "grumble", "sizzle" and many more. Poetry abounds in some specific types of sound-instrumenting, the leading role belonging to alliteration - the repetition of consonants, usually-in the beginning of words, and assonance - the repetition of similar vowels, usually in stressed syllables. They both may produce the effect of euphony (a sense of ease and comfort in pronouncing or hearing) or cacophony (a sense of strain and discomfort in pronouncing or hearing). To create additional information in a prose discourse sound-instrumenting is seldom used. In contemporary advertising, mass media and, above all, imaginative prose sound is fore grounded mainly through the change of its accepted graphical representation. This intentional violation of the graphical shape of a word (or word combination) used to reflect its authentic pronunciation is called graphon.: mispronunciations in the speech of uneducated people (“peepul”, “jewinile”), amalgamated forms (“gimme” (give me), “gonna” (going to), mispronunciations which show the physical defects of the speakers: stumbling, lisping; graphical changes used to convey the intensity of the stress, emphasizing and thus foregrounding the stressed words, i.e. all changes of the type (italics, capitalization), spacing of the graphemes (hyphenation, multiplication) and of lines (verse lines organized in “steps”). Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar sound combinations of words. Rhythm - the flow of speech presents an alternation of stressed and unstressed elements; the pattern of interchange of strong and weak segments is called rhythm.

Stylistic phraseology. Stylistic differentiation of phraseological units. Usual and occasional phraseological units, their stylistic function

Phraseological unit – is a system of words a meaning of which can’t be guessed from the meaning of its components (Koonin).

Each phr.unit is characterized by a certain degree of cohesion.

Phr.units are characterized by the following feature’s: 1. Stability; 2. Semantic integraty; 3. Ready-made structure which can’t be changed or substituted.

Professor Screbnev differentiate

1. Formal/bookish phr.units: Eg. The knight of the Quill = a writer; A heart of oak = brave, courageous; Achilles hill – ахилесова пята   

2. Neutral phr.units are units which are devoid of any emotiveness: Eg. By hook or by crock – всеми правдами и неправдами; For good and for all – раз и навсегда

3. Familiar colloquial phr.units: Eg. Have bats in one’s belfry – быть не в своем уме; A pretty kettle of fish – веселенькая история; To rain cats and dogs – неприятности валятся; To be one’s cups – быть навеселе, подвыпившим; Small fry – мелкая сошка

4. Slangish phr.units: Eg. To drop off the hooks – сорваться с петель, умереть; To kick the bucket – дать дуба; To hop the twig – загнуться, дать дуба

Professor I.V. Arnold classifies phr.units into

1. Usual p.units that are fixed in the dictionaries; 2. Occasional p.units that is creation of different authors. They are contextual predetermined. They appeared as a result of some change in usual units. These changes are the following: a. Prolongation. Eg. To be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth (usual p.unit) – родится под счастливой звездой: Little George was born with a silver spoon in a mouth which was curly and large (prolongation). b. Substitution. Eg. All the world and his wife (usual p.unit) – всё светское общество: all the world and his mistress (substitution) were at the party. c. Insertion (вклинивание). Eg. To turn one’s nose at sb. (usual p.unit) – смотреть с высока: She turned her well-shaped (insertion) nose at him.

Professor Koonin differentiate phr.units:

1. Stylistically neutral are units which are devoid of any emotiveness: Eg. By hook or by crock – всеми правдами и неправдами; For good and for all – раз и навсегда; 2. Emotive phr.units contain some kind of attitude towards this and that subject. Eg. As welcome as flower in may; 3. Expressive phr.units are characterized by some degree of expressiveness. Eg. He is dead nuts on this girl = he is full of love; 4. Stylistically marked phr.units are those which are referred either to the formal or non-literary informal styles (jargon, slang, vulgarisms, etc.). Eg. The debt of nature = death; A Gordian knot = complicated problem; To go to Canossar = публично покаяться, унизится; 5. Elevated phr.units: Eg. To breath one’s last – до самой смерти; To fiddle while Rome burns – пир во время чумы. Within elevated phr.units he (Koonin) distinguishes: a) Archaic (the iron in one’s soul – душевные муки, to play upon advantage – обманывать, надувать) and b) Poetic phr.units (of high account – имеющий ценность, most and the least – все без исключения); 6. Foreign phr.units (barbarisms). Eg. A la carte – по заказу, a la mode – по моде, beaumonde – бомонд, высший свет, ad patress – к праотцам, ad verbum – слово в слово.

All sorts of proverbs and sayings may undergo some changes.

L.A. Barkova made a research in which she studied pragmatic effect of using phr.units in commercial advertisements: eg. The other side of the medal (usual p.unit) – the other side of the metal (ads.), so far so good (usual p.unit) – sofa so good (ads.).