Chapter II Stylistic analysis

A dictionary meaning is materialized in the context; a contextual meaning is born in the context. However, dictionaries, though the only reliable sources of information regarding the meanings of a given word, apply very diverse and even contradictory principles in ascertaining the general acceptability and recognition of some of the shades of .meaning which are in process of being shaped as independent meanings. Thus, to excuse oneself in the meaning of 'to leave', as in 'Soames excused himself directly after dinner' (Galsworthy); or the meaning of a thought =  'a little' as in 'A thought more fashionably than usual' (Galsworthy) are fixed as separate meanings in some modern British and American dictionaries, but are neglected in others.

Every word possesses an enormous potentiality for generating new meanings. This power is often under-estimated by scholars who regard a word as a unit complete in itself and acknowledge a new-born meaning only when it has firmly asserted itself in language and become accepted by the majority of the language community. But not to see the latent possibilities of a word is not to understand the true nature of this unit of^- language.

The potentiality of words can also be noted in regard to emоtive meaning. Emotive meaning also materializes a concept in the word, but, unlike logical meaning, emotive meaning has reference not directly to things or phenomena of objective reality, but to the feelings and emotions of the speaker towards these things or to his emotions as such. Therefore the emotive meaning bears reference to things, phenomena or ideas through a kind of evaluation of them. For example:

I feel so darned lonely. (Graham Green, "The Quiet American".) He classified him as a man of monstrous selfishness; he did not want to see that knife descend, but he felt it for one great fleeting instant. (London)

The italicized words have no logical meaning, only emotive meaning. Their function is to reveal the subjective, evaluating attitude of the writer to the things or events spoken of. Men-of-letters themselves are well aware that words may reveal a subjective evaluation and sometimes use it for definite stylistic effects, thus calling the attention of the reader to the meaning of such words. Thus, for example, in the following passage from "The Man of Property" by Galsworthy:

"She was not a flirt, not even a coquette—words dear to the heart of his generation, which loved to define things by a good, broad, inadequate word—but she was dangerous."

Here the words 'flirt' and 'coquette' retain some of their logical meaning. They mean a person (particularly a girl) who endeavours to attract the opposite sex, who toys with her admirers. But both words have acquired an additional significance, viz. a derogatory shade of meaning. This shade may grow into an independent meaning and in this case will be fixed in dictionaries as having a special emotive meaning, as, for example, have the words fabulous, terrifying, stunning, spectacular, swell, top, smart, cute, massive and the like.

Many words acquire an emotive meaning only in a definite context. In that case we say that the word has a contextual emotive meaning.

Stephen Ullmann holds that "Only the context can show whether a word should be taken as a purely objective expression, or whether it is primarily designed to convey and arouse emotions. This is obvious in the case of words like liberty, and justice, which are frequently charged with emotional implications. But even colourless everyday terms may, in freak contexts, acquire unexpected emotional overtones, as, for instance, 'wall' in this passage from a Midsummer Night's Dream:

'And thou, О wall, О sweet, О lovely wall, ...Thanks, courteous wall... О wicked wall.'"¹

Ullmann's point of view is only partly true. There are, of course, words which, as we have pointed out, may acquire emotive meaning in a context. Ordinarily though, and particularly when taken as isolated lexical units, they can hardly be said to possess emotive meaning. But Ullmann's opinion that only the context can inject emotive meaning into words, contradicts the facts. In the vocabulary of almost any European language there are words which are undoubtedly bearers of emotive meaning. These are interjections, oaths or swear-words, exclamatory words (variants of interjections) and a great number of qualitative or intensifying adjectives some of which have already been mentioned. The emotive meaning of some of these classes of words is so strong that it suppresses the co-existing logical meaning, as, for example, in stunning and smart. It is significant that these words are explained in dictionaries by means of synonymous words charged with strong emotional implications, i.e. words that direct the mind not to objective things, ideas or phenomena but to the feelings. Thus, the word smart is explained in "The Penguin English Dictionary" thus: "stinging, pungent, keen; vigorous, brisk; clever, intelligent; impertinent; shrewd; witty; spruce, neat, gay, fashionable!"²

Other classes of words with emotive meaning have entirely lost their logical meaning and function in the language as interjections. Such words as alas, oh, ah, pooh, darn, gosh and the like have practically no logical meaning at all; words like the devil, Christ, God, goodness gracious, etc., are frequently used only in their emotive meaning. The same can be said about the words bloody, damn and other expletives.

Contrary to Stephen Ullmann, we think that emotive meaning is inherent in a definite group of words and adherent to many words denoting emotions and feelings even when taken out of the context.

Ullmann's example of the word wall as bearing strong emotive meaning does not stand scrutiny. He overlooks the real bearers of emotive meaning, viz. the words preceding or following it: O, sweet, lovely (these three words are repeated several times), courteous, wicked. It goes without saying that these words strongly colour3 the word wall, but no emotive meaning as a counterpart of logical meaning can be observed here. Emotive meaning of words plays an important role in stylistics. Therefore it should never be underrated. A very keen eye or ear will always distinguish elements of emotive meaning. Emotional colouring may be regarded as a rudimentary stage of emotive meaning. This is generally fixed as an independent meaning in good dictionaries. Anything recognizable as having a strong impact on our senses may be considered as having emotive meaning, either dictionary or contextual.

And finally we come to nоminal meaning. There are words which, while expressing concepts, indicate a particular object out of a class. In other words, these units of the language serve the purpose of singling out one definite and singular object out of a whole class of similar objects. These words are classified in grammars as proper nouns. The nature of these words can be understood if we have a clear idea of the difference between the two main aspects of a word: "nomination" and "signification". These aspects are also called "reference" and "signification" or "denotation" and "connotation". The difference can roughly be illustrated by the following example.

Let us take the word table. The first thing that appears in our mind is the general notion deprived of any concrete features or properties. This is the signification. But by the word table we may also denote a definite table. In this case we use a definite article and the meaning becomes nominating. But we may also fix a definite name to the object which we want to be recognized as a unique object because of its peculiar properties. In this way proper names appear. Their function is not to single out one of the objects of the class for one particular occasion, as in the case with the use of the definite article, but to make it the bearer of the properties which our mind has attached to it. Thus nominal meaning is a derivative logical meaning. To distinguish nominal meaning from logical meaning the former is designated by a capital letter. Such words as Smith, Longfellow, Everest, Black Sea, Thames, Byron are said to have nominal meaning. The logical meaning from which they originate may in the course of time be forgotten and therefore not easily traced back. Most proper names have nominal meanings which may be regarded as homonyms of common nouns with their logical or emotive meanings, as Hope, Browning, Taylor, Scotland, Black, Chandler, Chester (from the Latin word castra—'camp'). Hence logical meanings which nominate an object, at the same time signify the whole class of these objects. Nominal meanings which nominate an object are deprived of the latter function because they do not represent a class. It must be remembered, however, that the nominal meaning will always be secondary to the logical meaning.

The process of development of meaning may go still further. A nominal meaning may assume a logical meaning due to certain external circumstances. The result is that a logical meaning takes its origin in a nominal meaning. Some feature of a person which has made him or her noticeable and which is recognized by the community is made the basis for the new logical meaning. Thus dunce (a dullard, a stupid person) is derived from the personal name, Duns Scotus, a medieval scholastic; hooligan (a ruffian) is probably derived from the name of a rowdy fam-

  ily, cf. the Irish name Houligan, in a comic song popular about 1885; boycott (refuse to do business with, combine together against a person by breaking off all relations with him). The verb boycott was first used in 1880 to describe the action of the Land League towards Captain Boycott, an Irish landlord. The nominal meanings of these words have now faded away and we perceive only one, the logical meaning. But sometimes the process of attaching nominal meaning to a word with a logical meaning takes place as it were, before our eyes. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     Conclusion on chapter I

     The situation in which a type of language is found can usually be seen as appropriate or inappropriate to the style of language used. A personal love letter would probably not be a suitable location for the language of this article. However, within the language of a romantic correspondence there may be a relationship between the letter’s style and its context. It may be the author’s intention to include a particular word, phrase or sentence that not only conveys their sentiments of affection, but also reflects the unique environment of a lover’s romantic composition. Even so, by using so-called conventional and seemingly appropriate language within a specific context there exists the possibility that this language may lack exact meaning and fail to accurately convey the intended message from author to reader, thereby rendering such language obsolete precisely because of its conventionality. In addition, any writer wishing to convey their opinion in a variety of language that they feel is proper to its context could find themselves unwittingly conforming to a particular style, which then overshadows the content of their writing.The style is a pattern of linguistic features distinguishing one piece of writing from another or one category of writing from another. A writer’s style often varies from work to work; there is usually enough uniformity in one’s article to allow the readers to observe that this overall style differs from the other’s style.In the study of stylistics, the concern is mainly on the usage of stylistics, which is a discipline that studies the sum of stylistic features of the different varieties of language, the language, aspects of the speech event, language varieties and function, stylistic study and other spheres of study. On my opinion stylistic study concerns itself with the situational features that influence variations in language use, the criterion for the classification of language variety, and the description and interpretation of the linguistic features and functions of the main varieties (both literary and non-literary) of a language. 
 

     Chapter II Literary stylistic analysis

2.1. The revelation of the ways of image-creation in fiction texts

2.1.1. The stylistic analysis of “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde 

Genre is psychological because in this text we can see changes in emotional life of main character.

Composition : Narration of this text is dynamic, it gives continous account of events. There are many dialogues ("We don't know," answered the children; "he has gone away."You must tell him to be sure and come here to-morrow," said the Giant. ).Also there are some interior monologues(“I hope there will be a change in the weather.”) (."Who hath dared to wound thee?" cried the Giant; "tell me, that I may take my big sword and slay him.""Nay!" answered the child )

The author’s point of view is omniscient. The story told by the third person: “Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant's garden.” ; ” After the seven years were over he had said all that he had to say, for his conversation was limited, and he determined to return to his own castle”.

Conflict : man against himself (first time giant doesn’t understand that nothing can’t be worse than to be alone)

Plot structure:

the beginning : ” Every afternoon, as they… "How happy we are here!" they cried to each other ”

the climax : “One day the Giant came back… So he built a high wall all round it, and put up a notice-board.”

the story: ” He was a very selfish Giant… and had never seen him before; and the Giant felt very sad”

Ending: “Suddenly he rubbed his eyes… all covered with white blossoms”

Characters: little boy – protagonist, indirect, round(he helped giant become better when he kiss him); selfish giant – antagonist, direct, flat(first time he hated peoples which played in his garden)

Theme is a best sides of peoples because selfish giant going through changes and becomes better with help of kind boy.

Idea of the text is that any can be better, but we need some help for it. Author shows us that even selfish giant become more kind, when he found a friend. 
 

     2.2. Stylistic analysis of  “Louise”  by William Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) is one of the best known writers of the present day. He was not only a novelist, but also one of the most successful dramatists and short-story writer.

The short-story “Louise” was published in 1936. This story is about the woman who used to get everything what she wants using her “weak heart”.

The gist of the problem raised by the author in this story is relationship between people. This problem is always urgent.

Idea conveyed by the author is that some people can be so selfish that they ready to ruin the lives of others (even the members of their own family) in order to achieve their aims.

Composition: the story is written in a form of narration. The narration is conducted on 1^st person. It is not pointed where the action takes place in. The story is characterized by gripping narrative and deep emotional impact. It is permeated with irony. Narration broken by ironical portrayal of the main character Louise. For example, “She had too much delicacy ever to make a direct statement, but with a hint and a sigh and a little flutter of her beautiful hands she was able to make her meaning plain”.

The prevailing moods of the story are ironical and emotional. This story is realistic in style. It is reveals human virtues and vices.

The story “Louise” has an gripping and fast-moving plot. The plot of the story is complicated. The story has the following composition: there are no exposition. The development of the plot begins from the first paragraph. The climax is logically reached in dialogue between the narrator and Louise. The denouement is shown in the last paragraph. The elements of plot ordered chronologically.

There are two main characters: Louise and the author himself, where  Louise is a antagonist and the author is protagonist. There are also some flat characters such as Tom Maitland, the first husband of Louse; George Hobhouse, her second hubsband, and her daughter Iris.

The author reveals the nature of his characters through actions and dialogues. For example, the Louise words “I shan’t live to trouble you long” shows her “sorry” for having a weak heart. The author is focused on human feelings and relationship, actions and motives. The character of main heroine Louise is drawn with admirable skill. And it reveals the author’s great knowledge of man’s inner world.

The story contains an abundance of stylistic devices. Especially often we can find the use of epithets and ironies. The great number of epithets such as gentle way of  hers; frail, delicate girl with large and melancholy eyes;  anxious adoration; dreadfully delicate; pathetic little smile; large blue eyes; plaintive smile, gentle smile, devilish woman etc. are used by author in order to show the appearance and to express some inner qualities of Louise.

There are a lot of instances of using ironies. Whole text is permeated with them. Let’s show some examples,

          He gave up the games he excelled in, not because she wished him to, she was glad that he should play golf and hunt, but because by a coincidence she had a heart attack whenever he proposed to leave her for a day.

     But who would want to be bothered with a wretched invalid like herself? Oddly enough more than one young man showed himself quite ready to undertake the charge and a year after Tom’s death she allowed George Hobhouse to lead her to the altar.

     But at last she yielded as she always yielded, and he prepared to make his wife’s last few years as happy as might be.

     ‘Oh, well, you’ve been prepared for that for nearly twenty years now, haven’t you?’

     With a sigh her mother let her do a great deal. 
          She died gently forgiving Iris for having killed her.

These ironies express the narrator negative attitude to Louise. They are used in order to show that he (the narrator) doesn’t believe that Louse’s heart is so weak.

Also we can find some phraseologies, such as behind my back, her life hangs on a thread, I shall be at death’s door, stir a finger, heaven knows, to fly into a passion, Louise was as good as her word. The using of phraseologies in this text makes it emotionally expressive and rich.

Besides them, we can point out some examples of repetitions: “Oh, I know, I know what you’ve always thought of me”; “If it kills me, it kills me”; I saw the face behind the mask and because I alone held out was determined that sooner or later I too should take the mask for the face; (the framing repetition); She did nothing of the kind; indeed, she would not leave me alone; she was constantly asking me to lunch and dine with her and once or twice a year invited me to spend a week (anaphora). This stylistic device also makes the story more expressive and emotional. There are some other stylistic devices such as metaphor: spark of humour, mistress of cold praise; simily: look upon her as a comic figure, she fooled herself as thoroughly as he fooled the world, they entrusted her to him as a sacred charge; hyperbole: do everything in the world for Louise, I’ve begged her on my bended knees and etc.

The story has a deep emotional appeal. It is intended to provoke thoughts.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     Conclusion on chapter II

     In this paper I have examined multiple motives for the stylistic choices in one text from a novel. Taken all together, these motives produce an effect far more impressive and moving than any description of the same scene or topic in ordinary, careless style. Since the scene in the novel occurs at the most important moment of the novel the impact of the text comes greatly into effect. The author chose a complex style in the hope that the details of the scene would remain in the readers’ minds.