Stylistic Phonetics

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♦ Topics for Reports and Discussion

1. Onomatopoeia (sound imitation).

2. Alliteration.

3. Rhyme.

♦ Lecture Digest

Sound (especially in clusters) may be imbued with meaning.

Sound imitation (onomatopoeia) may be direct: “a hard rit-rat on the hobbit’s beautiful green door”. In the direct onomatopoeia we come across words imitating natural sounds. In the indirect onomatopoeia the effect of orchestration is created by the combination of sounds in the text. As a result the sound of the utterance acquires its sense bringing to mind the needed associations. E.A. Poe’s “The Raven” is a classical example of the author’s efficient exploiting the phonetic qualities of words: … “And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain” – the repetition of the [s] sound in a number of words definitely contributes to the idea of “rustling”.

While interacting in sentences, speech sounds give rise to such stylistic means as: 1) alliteration, 2) assonance, 3) paronomasia, 4) rhyme, which imply 1) recurrence of an initial consonant or consonants in a number of words (“lassies lilting before dawn of day”. C.D. Lewis); 2) the recurrence of stressed vowels (“vocalic alliteration”) as in E. Poe’s poem mentioned above (Aiden, laden, maiden); 3) the phonetic similarity of the alliteration type but deeper in “rooting” in such cases as “poultry – politics” (also termed as paronymic attraction); 4) almost “a complete coincidence of acoustic impressions produced by stressed syllables” (Y. Skrevnev) occurring at the end of verse lines (dreams – streams).

Sound symbolism or semantics of the sound dates back to ancient times. Nowadays poets, writers, advertisers and translators – people who have a sensitive ear for the form of a word try to explicit the power of sound to express emotion and support the meaning.

♦ Extension

Alliteration is generally regarded as a musical accompaniment of the author's idea, supporting it with some vague emotional atmosphere which each reader interprets for himself. Thus the repetition of the sound Id] in the lines quoted from Poe's poem "The Raven" prompts the feeling of anxiety, fear, horror, anguish or all these feelings simultaneously.

Alliteration in the English language is deeply rooted in the traditions of English folklore. The laws of phonetic arrangement in Anglo-Saxon poetry differed greatly from those of present-day English poetry. In Old English poetry alliteration was one of the basic principles of verse and considered, along with rhythm, to be its main characteristic. Each stressed meaningful word in a line had to begin with the same sound or combination of sounds. The traditions of folklore are exceptionally stable and alliteration as a structural device of Old English poems and songs has shown remarkable continuity. It is frequently used as a well-tested means not only in verse but in emotive prose, in newspaper headlines, in the titles of books, in proverbs-and sayings, as, for example, in the following: Tit for tat; blind as a bat, betwixt and between; It is neck or nothing; to rob Peter to pay Paul.

♦ List of Works Recommended

1. Арнольд И.В. Стилистика. Современный английский язык. М., 2006. С. 191-214: гл. V. Фонетическая стилистика.

2. Skrebnev Y.M. Fundamentals of English Stylistics. M., 1994. PP. 133-145. Ch. I. Phonetics of Sequences (Syntagmatic Phonetics).

♦ Exercises

1. Identify the phonetic stylistic means in the following examples and specify the function performed by them:

a) Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,

Farewell to the torrents

and loud-pouring floods.

R. Burns

b) Beat! beat! drums! – blow! bugles! blow!

W. Whitman

c) And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting…