Morphological Means of Stylistics

in the
English and Ukrainian Languages

01.09.2020
by Inna A. Redka (PhD in Linguistics)
+38(097) 520 45 85
i.redka@kubg.edu.ua
In focus
1. Notions of stylistic opposition: expressive means – stylistic device
2. Morphemic foregrounding
3. Morphological expressive means and stylistic devices
4. Stylistic potential of English and Ukrainian
a) nouns
b) adjectives
c) pronouns
d) adverbs
e) verbs
 Notions of stylistic opposition:
expressive means – stylistic device
stylistic opposition
• opposition = being the other of a pair
(Merriam-Webster dictionary)

• the stylistic opposition is a set of paradigmatic

relations between linguistic units that are contrasted
on the basis of their expressivity, informational
content, etc.

• a more informative element of a paradigmatic

opposition is called its marked member.
marked member of stylistic opposition

murderer :: killer
destroyer
slaughterer
slayer
butcher
cutthroat
spiller of blood
assassin
Маркована одиниця стилістичної
опозиції
жити – жить
питає – пита
беремо – берем
ходімо – ходім
несіть – несіте
досягти – досягнути
замінювати – заміняти
• випив молоко – випив молока
• найвужчий – найбільш вузький
• синові – сину
• тая – та
• знає – зна
• їх – їхній
• писатиму – буду писати – напишу
• зелений – зелен
expressive means and stylistic device
• expressive means (зображувально-виражальний засіб)
is a marked member of a stylistic opposition which has an invariant
form in language,
e.g. a chance :: a golden opportunity

• stylistic device (стилістичний прийом)

is an intentional change of a fixed (usual) distribution of linguistic units
in speech,
e.g. New York is the most American city in the United States of America
Morphological means

are the grammatical forms marked by the morphemic foregrounding.

Morphemic foregrounding
morphemic foregrounding

morpheme
• is the smallest meaningful unit within a word
• can be foregrounded by means of repetition

The foregrounded morpheme becomes a vehicle of additional

information – logical, emotive, expressive (V.A.Kukharenko):

e.g. We were sitting in the cheapest of all the cheap restaurants that
cheapen that very cheap and noisy street, the Rue des Petits Champs
in Paris.
morphemic foregrounding
•“She unchained, unbolted and unlocked the
door.”

•“It was there again, more clearly than before: the

terrible expression of pain in her eyes; unblinking,
unaccepting, unbelieving pain.”
Morphological expressive means
and stylistic devices
morphological stylistic devices
appear due to

1) the deviation from the usual combinability of morphemes within

words (sand → sands; water → waters; вода ставка → води
ставка; сидіти в президії → сидіти в президіях; Ви затрималися
→ Ви затрималася);
2) the deviation from the contextual distribution (the use of a word
form which is not typical of a particular context).
Stylistic potential of English and
Ukrainian parts of speech
stylistic potential of English & Ukrainian nouns

Nouns can create stylistic devices due to

1) the repetition (N1 is N1):
boys are boys and girls are girls
stylistic potential of English & Ukrainian
nouns
2) the transposition of a name of N1 onto N2:

“Hours are leaves of life and I am their gardener”.

Якщо очі – дзеркало душі, то руки – її тлумачі.

stylistic potential of English & Ukrainian
nouns
3) the transposition of Sg onto Pl (Sg→ Pl):
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?

4) the transposition of Pl onto Sg (Pl→ Sg):

He went about her room, after his introduction, looking at her
pictures, her bronzes and clays, asking after the creator of this, the
painter of that, where a third thing came from.
Сяють роси –
І співає колосся.
Сяють роси –
І сміються щасливо
Парижі,
Нью-Йорки,
Рими,
І мій Косів
(Т.Мельничук)
stylistic potential of English & Ukrainian
nouns
The category of case is realized in two possible models: N1 of N2 and
N1’s N2.

However, the category of case demonstrates a tendency to extend to

other parts of speech:

e.g.: The blond I had been dancing with’s name was Bernice – Crabs or
Krebs.
(J. Salinger)
stylistic potential of English nouns
The category of definiteness / indefiniteness is marked analytically –
by the articles.

The use of the definite / indefinite article with proper names creates
an evaluative connotation – positive / negative, cf:

• I entered the room. There she was – the clever Polly.

• That day Jane was different. It was a silly Jane.
stylistic potential of English & Ukrainian adjectives

• the bestest food is pizza;

• most complete selection of wines in the Midwest;
• The most ‘American car’;
• What makes Sydney so … Sydney?;
• Mondish: 1) The Tuesday after a Monday holiday is
decidedly mondish. Oh well, at least it's a short week;
2) Have you ever had so much to do that every day felt
mondish?
• наймаміша мама у світі
• найпроблемніша з проблем
• найбухгалтерськіша газета
• мільйоноокий
 stylistic potential of English pronouns
in medias res:

“Who is he?” I said. “And why does he sit always alone, with his back
to us, too?”
(K. Mansfield, “The Baron”)
stylistic potential of English pronouns
archaic pronouns thee, thou, thy are used
• to create a formal / solemn atmosphere;
• to render high degree of poeticality:

And the young Fisherman laughed: “Thou hast done me no evil, but I
have no need of thee,” he answered.
(O.Wilde, “The Fisherman and His Soul”)
stylistic potential of English pronouns
Stylistic devices based on transposition of pronouns

1) Pluralis Auctoris (editorial we / "author's plural"/ авторське ми):

the addressee talks on behalf of a certain group / community.
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on
life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more
important than the past, the education, the money, than
circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other
people think or say or do. It is more important than
appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a
company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we
have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace
for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change
the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot
change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the
one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced
that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to
it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes."
(Charles R. Swindoll, American writer and clergyman, b. 1934)
stylistic potential of English pronouns
2) Pluralis Majestatis (royal "we" / plural of majesty).
The practice of kings and queens, etc. of referring to
themselves using we.
(a) We are not amused. (Queen Victoria).
(b) We are not Queen Victoria. (Queen Elizabeth).
stylistic potential of English pronouns
3) Pluralis Modestiae. The use of the pronoun we by a single person
when imparting knowledge to others. The idea is to soften the
arrogance of gnosis.

4) Clinical we. Can be used in conversation between a doctor and his

patient:
“How do we feel today?”
stylistic potential of English pronouns
5) Patronizing we. May render a patronizing attitude of the senior
person towards a junior one.

6) Humiliating we (plural of humility). Can be observed in

conversations about people from a lower class,
e.g. Ah, we’re from a rural area.
stylistic potential of English pronouns
the pronoun one:
• “One should always think of what one is about: when
one is learning, one should not think of play: and
when one is at play, one should not think of one's
learning”
(Lord Chasterfield)
• "the winner ain't the one with the fastest car it’s the
one who refuses to lose"
(Dale Earnhardt, American NASCAR race driver, 1951-
2001)
stylistic potential of English pronouns
the pronoun you

“In the afternoon the chairs came, a whole big cart full of little gold
ones with legs in the air. And then the flowers came. When you stared
down from the balcony at the people carrying them the flower pots
looked like funny awfully nice hats nodding up the path”
(K.Mansfield, “Sun and Moon”)
stylistic potential of English adverbs

• neutral adverbs
(greatly, highly, quite)

• stylistically coloured adverbs (awfully, dreadfully)

 stylistic potential of English verbs

The Historical Present

(transposition present → past)
We arrive at about three o’clock on the Sunday afternoon. It is mid
October. The Sun is already low in the sky. The garden is thick
with windfalls, apples, pears and plums, over which a cloud of
small flies hovers.
We arrived at about three o’clock on the Sunday afternoon. It was
mid October. The Sun was already low in the sky. The garden
was thick with windfalls, apples, pears and plums, over which a
cloud of small flies hovered.
Thank you for attention!