Stylistic devices of syntax: parallelism. Chiasm, anaphora, epiphora and their stylistic functions

This is a stylistic device for repeating identical or similar syntactic structures. Such repetition is called syntactic parallelism. This technique is found, as a rule, in units larger than the sentence. A necessary condition for parallelism is the identity or similarity of the syntactic structures of two or more sentences or parts of sentences when they are used sequentially, for example: “There were, …, real silver spoons to stir the tea with , and real china cups to drink it out of,and plates of the same to hold the cakes and toast in.”(Dickens);

“The cock is crowing, The stream is flowing, The small birds twitter, The lake doth glitter.”

Parallelism can be full or partial. Partial parallelism is the repetition of some parts of consecutive sentences or parts of subordinate clauses: “It is the mob that labor in your fields and serve in your houses – that man your navy and recruit your army, - that have enabled you to defy all the world, and can also defy you when neglect and calamity have driven them to despair.” (Byron)

In this example, attributive clauses begin with that followed by a verb in the same form, except for the last one (have enabled). The verbs are followed by either place circumstances (in your fields, in your houses) or direct objects (your navy, your army). The third attributive clause is not built on the model of the previous ones, although it adheres to the general parallel structure (that+verb-predicate+object). The fourth subordinate clause has its own structure.

Full parallelism is the repetition of identical structures through corresponding clauses, for example:

“The seeds ye sow – another reaps,

The robes ye weave - another wear,

The arms ye forge—another bears.” (Shelley)

Parallel constructions perform two main functions - semantic and structural. On the one hand, they assume the same semantic, logical and expressive significance of the components, and on the other hand, they give speech a certain rhythmic organization, which determines their use in poetry.

In fiction, parallelism serves technical means to form other stylistic devices such as antithesis, buildup, repetition and enumeration:

“… the public wants a thing, therefore it is supplied with it; or the public is supplied with a thing, therefore it wants it.” (Thackeray)

Chiasmus (Chiasmus = Reversed Parallel Construction)

Chiasmus belongs to the group of stylistic means based on the repetition of the syntactic model. The essence of chiasm is that in two adjacent phrases (or sentences) built on parallelism, the second one is built in reverse order. So, if in the first part there is a direct word order, then in the second - the opposite.: “ Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down”(Coleridge);

“The night winds sigh, the breakers roar, and shrieks the wild sea-mew” (Byron);

Chiasmus is also achieved by unexpectedly changing the voice of the verb from active to passive or vice versa, for example: “The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it.” (Dickens)

This technique is effective in the sense that it helps to emphasize the second part of the statement by unexpectedly changing the structure in this part and a small pause before it.

It must be remembered that chiasm is syntactic a stylistic means, not a lexical one, i.e. it is built on a different organization of the structure of the utterance.

Therefore, in Byron's epigram: “In the days of old men made the manners;

Manners now make the men”,

no inversion, it's not syntactical device, both parts of the parallel construction have direct word order. This epigram uses a lexical stylistic device, which was named by I.R. Galperin lexical chiasm. Like a parallel construction, chiasm contributes to the rhythmic organization of the utterance and is used, as a rule, in literary English language. However, its prototype is also found in emphatic colloquial speech: “ He was brave man, was John.”

PRACTICAL TASKS

Exercise 20. In the following examples, determine the use cases and the function of such syntactic stylistic devices as isolation, parallelism and chiasm.

These times are past, our joys are gone,

You leave me, leave this happy vale… (Byron)

Hagen's voice, still low, said, “The Don wants you in his office. Now.” (Puzo)
And though the sun was warmer near the beach, the air was certainly lighter. The sky was clearer. The world was pretty again. (Grisham)
That he sings and he sings, and for ever sings he -

I love my Love, and my Love loves me! (coleridge)

His dislike of her grew because he was ashamed of it… Resentment bred shame, and shame bred more resentment. (Huxley)
Mrs. Abbandando pecked at Don Corleone's cheek, sobbing, wailing. (Puzo)
They follow me, you follow them, you follow me, they follow you. (Grisham)
She narrowed her eyes a trifle at me and said I looked exactly like Celia Briganza's boy. around the mouth. (Salinger)
She was lovely: all of her - delightful. (Dreiser)
If the Don wanted him to show guilt, he would show guilt; if the Don invited grief, he would lay bare his genuine sorrow. (Puzo)

Stylistic figures based on a special lexical and syntactic organization of the utterance

Parallelisms

Parallelisms or parallel constructions are such a composition of an utterance in which the individual parts are built in the same way. In other words, the structure of one sentence (or part of it) is repeated in another sentence as part of an utterance (sentence, complex syntactic whole or paragraph).

So, for example, if one sentence is a complex sentence with a subordinate clause in which the subordinate clause precedes the main clause, then the second sentence will completely repeat this structure of the statement. Sometimes not the whole complex sentence may be repeated, but only part of it. So, in the following example, the structure of the relative clause of the attributive is repeated:

"It is the mob that labor in your fields and serve in your houses, - that man your navy and recruit your army, - that have enabled you to defy all the world..." (Byron.)

Parallel constructions are especially often used in enumerations, in antitheses and in the method of growth. Parallels can be full or partial. With complete parallelism, the structure of one sentence is completely repeated in the following. For example:

"The seeds ye sow - another reaps, The robes ye weave - another wears, The arms ye forge - another bears."

(P. B. Shelley.)

Complete parallelism is often accompanied by the repetition of individual words (another and ye).

The technique of parallelism is used not only in styles artistic speech. Syntactic construction repetition

often used in the styles of scientific prose, in official documents(contracts, acts, etc.).

The difference in the functions of parallelisms in these styles of speech is determined by their general patterns. In the styles of artistic speech, the parallelism of syntactic constructions carries an artistic and emotional load. It creates, like any repetition, the rhythmic organization of the utterance and, due to its uniformity, serves as a background for emphatically highlighting the desired segment of the utterance or word (see, for example, the sharply opposed ye and another in the above example, highlighted against the background of parallel constructions).

In the styles of scientific prose and business documents, parallelisms have a completely different function. They are used, so to speak, logically. Their purpose is to express in a linguistic form the equivalence of the content of the statement.

Reverse parallelism (chiasm)

To stylistic devices that are built on repetition syntactic pattern sentences, one can also refer to reverse parallelism (chiasm). The compositional pattern of this technique is as follows: two sentences follow one after the other, and the word order of one sentence reverse order words of another sentence. For example, if in one sentence the word order is direct: subject, predicate, object, circumstance, the word order in another sentence is reversed: circumstance, object, predicate, subject. For example: "Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down." (Coleridge.)

The word order in the second sentence is reversed with respect to the first. Chiasmus can be otherwise called a combination of inversion and parallelism. In the above example, there is also lexical repetition: the word down forms a circular repetition. However, chiasm is not always accompanied by lexical repetition. For example:

"As high as we have mounted in delight In our dejection do we sink as low."

(Wordsworth.)

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Sometimes reverse parallelism can be implemented by switching from an active construct to a passive construct and vice versa. So, in the example that we have already given to illustrate growth, the author changes the construction of the sentence: the passive construction in the first sentence is replaced by the active construction in the second sentence:

"The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it... (Dickens)

Thus, the chiasm here acts as an auxiliary means for growth.

With songs of Liberty! On him alone was the doom of pain

From the morning of his birth; On him alone the curse of Cain Fell, like a flail on the gathered grain,

And struck him to the earth!

In the same way, phraseological units, the formation of which is based on antonyms, cannot be considered as antitheses. For example: top and bottom, up and down, inside and out.

In these formations, as in all phraseological units, the value of the whole dominates the value of the components. Consequently, "repulsion", a necessary condition for antithesis, cannot be here, and therefore there is no antithesis.

The antithesis is usually built on the non-union combination of sentences. If the connection between the components of the antithesis is expressed by an allied connection, then the union and is most often used. By its nature, it more fully expresses the unity of the compared phenomena. When the union but appears, the stylistic effect of the antithesis is largely weakened. The antagonistic meaning of this conjunction in itself prepares the reader for the contrasting statement that is to follow. For example:

The cold in clime are cold in blood, Their love can scarce deserve the name; But mine was like a lava flood That boils in Etna's breast of flame.

(Q. G. Buron)

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Antithesis is often found in the styles of artistic speech and in journalistic styles. It is rarely used in the style of scientific prose, where, however, logical oppositions are common.

In order to become an antithesis, any logical opposition must be emotionally colored.

1) Parallelism (English parallelism) - a stylistic device based on the identical construction of two (or more) sentences or their parts. Parallelism can be complete, incomplete, partial. Full parallelism is represented as a direct series of identical structures within a certain context:

language has become so common that it loses its stylistic coloring, turning into a regular norm for the omission of some members of the sentence, primarily the subject and predicate. Incomplete parallelism is a characteristic phenomenon for the style of scientific prose.

Partial parallelism is the repetition of several consecutive syntactic units within a single sentence: The wind blew faster. It dragged now at his coat, it blew its space about him, it echoed silently a lonely spaciousness (W. Sansom) .

Often, parallel structures are used in nonfiction style: Of the grammatical factors, an adjective favors deletion while a determiner favors retention - an effect also found in other Hispanic dialects. Of the phonological factors, a following pause favors deletion the most (Language)

This example illustrates incomplete parallelism, which is determined by the entire speech complex and is used to enhance the communicative function of the utterance. With this omission of repeated units, the remaining speech units in the parallel construction are more expressive and stylistically marked compared to full sentences.

2) Chiasm (English chiasmus) - a kind of parallelism, a feature of which is

changing the syntactic links between the repeating members of the parallel structure. Such an arrangement in the reverse order of the syntactic elements (A B: B A) leads to a rethinking of the content of the statement: It was a shock to me that while / observed Thompson, Thompson observed me (V. Pritchett); At Malta the news reached us - or, rather, we reached the news - that the Boers have invaded Natal, and that England is at war (B. Shaw).

The main stylistic function of chiasmus is to give new additional content to the statement, fixing the addressee's attention on the reported fact, thus highlighting it: “Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on the jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up” (H. Lee).

3) Anaphora (English anaphora) - a stylistic feature consisting in the repetition of the initial element (one or more) in successive sentences. Anaphora refers to the means of the so-called poetic syntax.

The parallelism of constructions, reinforced by anaphoric repetition, creates a certain rhythm of the narration, bringing it closer to poetic speech.

4) Epiphora (English epiphora) - a stylistic feature consisting in the repetition of the final element in two or more consecutive sentences. Like anaphora, epiphora refers primarily to stylistic resources. poetic syntax and is used for the rhythmic organization of speech.

Epiphora, combined with anaphora and parallelism of syntactic structures, is an extremely expressive stylistic means. Being a characteristic device of poetic syntax, epiphora also creates a certain rhythm in prose, which is achieved by identical lexical expression and intonational selection of finite elements.

In the journalistic style, epiphoric repetition, accompanied by the parallelism of syntactic structures, creates the impression of solemnity and expression.

Thus, stylistic devices based on formal and semantic interactions of several syntactic constructions or sentences in a certain context are one of the richest sources speech expressiveness. These stylistic devices serve as means of poetic syntax. They are widely used in fiction, journalism, are found in scientific speech, but are not typical for official business speech.

Stylistic devices of syntax based on the transposition of the meaning of the syntactic structure (rhetorical questions, affirmation instead of negation, negation instead of affirmation) and their stylistic functions

In context, there is often a semantic shift in sentences with a surface structure of a question, exclamation, affirmation and negation. This is due to the fact that grammatical forms are characterized by ambiguity and multifunctionality. The possibility of transposition of the meaning of the syntactic structure in the context is associated primarily with the interaction of lexical and grammatical factors. With transposition, many means of syntax acquire expressiveness and, consequently, stylistic significance.

The main means of expressing implicit negation in English are:

rhetorical question: Who knows?

sentences with modal verbs might, ought to, etc.; with perfect infinitive: You might have come earlier;

sentences expressing a wish or condition: I wish she were herel

parceled conditional and comparative sentences with if, as if, as though: If she were here! As though she might do it!

exclamatory sentences with inversion: Much he knew about it! emphatic question with the meaning of negation: Am I a traitor? syntactic type structures: Me and Peg?

In all the above cases, the transposition of the form leads to the fact that the meaning of the negation is modified.

Consider the functioning of interrogative forms in the text.

The stylistic transposition of interrogative forms is closely related to their context in dialogic and monologue speech. The context of the interrogative form usually consists of interrelated statements of interlocutors. Certain changes in the situation of communication between the participants in the dialogue lead to a transposition of the meaning of interrogative forms, to the acquisition of expressive-stylistic connotations by them.

When transposing the meaning of the interrogative form in the dialogue, the latter is included in the second replica, expressing an affirmation or negation:

Jimmy: You don't suppose your father could have written it, do you? [...].

Alison: Why should my father have written it? (J. Osborne).

Alison: You've settled in so easily somehow.

Helen: Why shouldn't I? (J. Osborne).

In the examples given, interrogative forms are used as part of the second replica of the reacting statement and, acquiring the meaning of negation (My father has not written it) and affirmation (Oh, yes, I have), are reinterpreted into a rhetorical question.

Rhetorical question (eng. rhetoric question) - an emotional statement or denial in the form of a question. The rhetorical question does not imply an answer, but only enhances the expressiveness of the statement: "Pigeons haven't troubled us so far, have they?" said Michael to Patchway. "Why should they?* said Patchway (I. Murdoch).

Often a rhetorical question expresses an impulse:

Jimmy: I thought the doctor said no cigarettes?

Cliff: Oh, why doesn't he shut up? (J. Osborne).

In the context of monologue speech, the reaction to the question is carried out by the speaker himself. Under these conditions, the question does not imply any verbal reaction on the part of the addressee. The interrogative form is transposed and acquires a new communicative meaning: “But since I was only one, and in a region and state and nation that appeared to be thinking directly opposite to me, and all my husband’s way. I quite despaired of any result for myself. Why, therefore, argue with him? Where could 1 get by it?” (Th. Dreiser).

In oratory and journalistic speech, a rhetorical question serves as a means of attracting attention, raising the emotional tone of the statement, implying a denial or affirmation: But who bothers to sort out the conflicting economic, social and other motives here and to mitigate accordingly? Or to study the economics of the social arrangement by which they are so sharply checked? Or cares whether such young fellows become embittered? (Th. Dreiser).

Rhetorical questions are used in the author's narration and in improperly direct speech as a means of reproducing the thoughts of a character or author: The naivete with which she pursued such activities was part of her nature, he had his own peculiarities, why should not he indulge hers? (A. Cronin).

All considered cases of transposition of interrogative forms are stylistically marked, their function is to attract attention, increase the emotional tone of speech, and enhance the pragmatic effect of the statement.

parallelism Parallelisms or parallel constructions are such a composition of an utterance in which individual parts are built in the same way. In other words, the structure of one sentence (or part of it) is repeated in another sentence as part of an utterance (sentence, complex syntactic whole or paragraph).
So, for example, if one sentence is a complex sentence with a subordinate clause in which the subordinate clause precedes the main clause, then the second sentence will completely repeat this structure of the statement. Sometimes not the whole complex sentence may be repeated, but only part of it. So, in the following example, the structure of the relative clause of the attributive is repeated:
"It is the mob that labor in your fields and serve in your houses, - that man your navy and recruit your army, - that have enabled you to defy all the world..." (Byron.)
Parallel constructions are especially often used in enumerations, in antitheses and in the method of growth. Parallels can be full or partial. With complete parallelism, the structure of one sentence is completely repeated in the following. For example:
"The seeds ye sow - another reaps, The robes ye weave - another wears, The arms ye forge - another bears."
(P. B. Shelley.)
Complete parallelism is often accompanied by the repetition of individual words (another and ye).
The reception of parallelism is used not only in the styles of artistic speech. Syntactic construction repetition
often used in the styles of scientific prose, in official documents (contracts, acts, etc.).
The difference in the functions of parallelisms in these styles of speech is determined by their general patterns. In the styles of artistic speech, the parallelism of syntactic constructions carries an artistic and emotional load. It creates, like any repetition, the rhythmic organization of the utterance and, due to its uniformity, serves as a background for emphatically highlighting the desired segment of the utterance or word (see, for example, the sharply opposed ye and another in the above example, highlighted against the background of parallel constructions).
In the styles of scientific prose and business documents, parallelisms have a completely different function. They are used, so to speak, in a logical plan. Their purpose is to express in a linguistic form the equivalence of the content of the statement.

Reverse parallelism (chiasm)
Reverse parallelism (chiasm) can also be attributed to stylistic devices that are built on the repetition of the syntactic pattern of a sentence. The compositional pattern of this technique is as follows: two sentences follow one after the other, and the word order of one sentence is reverse to the word order of another sentence. For example, if in one sentence the word order is direct: subject, predicate, object, circumstance, the word order in another sentence is reversed: circumstance, object, predicate, subject. For example: "Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down." (Coleridge.)
The word order in the second sentence is reversed with respect to the first. Chiasmus can be otherwise called a combination of inversion and parallelism. In the above example, there is also lexical repetition: the word down forms a circular repetition. However, chiasm is not always accompanied by lexical repetition. For example:
"As high as we have mounted in delight In our dejection do we sink as low."
(Wordsworth.)
Sometimes reverse parallelism can be implemented by switching from an active construct to a passive construct and vice versa. So, in the example that we have already given to illustrate growth, the author changes the construction of the sentence: the passive construction in the first sentence is replaced by the active construction in the second sentence:
"The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it... (Dickens)
Thus, the chiasm here acts as an auxiliary means for growth.
A chiasm can be built on a non-union composition, as in the examples above. In an allied composition, the union and is used as a means of communication. For example:
His light gray gloves were still on his hands, and on his lips his smile sardonic, but were the feelings in his heart?
Everything here is built chiasmatically: light gray gloves in the first sentence and smile sardonic in the second; were ... on his hands and on his lips (was) his smile sardonic. The ellipsis here does not break inverse parallelism.
Chiasmus is most often used in two consecutive sentences. It is hardly felt in the larger units of the utterance.

What is Parallel syntactic constructions?

Parallel syntactic constructions are constructions that are close in meaning, but expressed in different ways. syntactic units(cf.: synonymous constructions). Usually parallel syntactic constructions are formed by subordinate clauses and members simple sentence, most often - isolated revolutions. Pupils who graduated from an eight-year school - students who graduated from an eight-year school - students after graduating from an eight-year school - students after finishing an eight-year school - students after they graduated from an eight-year school. Within such a series, constructions are distinguished that are closer to each other in terms of the content they express and the grammatical function;

1) subordinate clause, attributive sentence and participle turnover;

2) adverbial clause adverbial and adverbial turnover (a construction with a verbal noun adjoins them).

Parallel constructions differ from one another in their semantic nuances and stylistic coloring. Relative clauses have a greater semantic load, since they form a predicative unit in a complex sentence, while separate turns parallel to them act as members of a simple sentence. This has to do with the role of the verb in the sentence; in a subordinate clause, regardless of its type, the predicate is usually expressed in the personal (conjugated) form of the verb, which is inherent in the series verb categories(person category, number category, tense category, mood category) that support the action-state meaning (cf.; students who graduated from an eight-year school; students after they graduated from an eight-year school). AT participle turnover(students, after graduating from an eight-year school), the verb already performs the function of a secondary predicate and has only the category of aspect with a touch of temporary meaning. In the participial turnover (students who graduated from an eight-year school), the meaning of the action is even more weakened, since in the hybrid form of the participle essential role plays the meaning of an objective feature, usually expressed by an adjective. Finally, in verbal noun(students after graduating from an eight-year school) the verbality decreases even more, the meaning of the action is abstract, and the meaning of time comes to the fore in this construction.

The stylistic differences between parallel constructions are related to their use in various speech styles. Separate turns are mainly the property of bookish speech; the use of verbal nouns gives the statement a bookish, sometimes clerical character;

subordinate clauses are interstyle constructions.