Short Exploring the Language Table of Contents

8/12/2019 Short Exploring the Language Table of Contents

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Learning bout LanguageGeneral Editors:Geoffrey Leech Mic h Short Lancaster University

Already publishedAnalysing Sentences

Noel Burton RobertsPatterns of Spoken EnglishGerald KnowlesWords and Their MeaningHowardJacksonAn Introduction to PhonologyFrancis KatambaGrammar and MeaningHowardJackson

n Introduction to SociolinguisticsJanet HolmesRealms of Meaning: An Introduction to SemanticsTh. R HofmannAn Introduction to Psycho inguisticsDanny D. SteinbergAn Introduction to Spoken InteractionAnna-Brita StenstromWatching English ChangeLaurie BauerMeaning in Interaction: An Introduction to PragmaticsJenny Thomas

n Introduction to Cognitive LinguisticsFriedrich Ungerer and Hans-Jorg SchmidExploring the Language of Poems, Plays and ProseMick Short

Exploring the Languageof Poems Plays andProseMick Short

LongmanLondon and New York


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Addison Wesley Longman LimitedEdinburg h GateHarlow Essex CM20 2JEUnited Kingdom

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and Assodated Companies throughout the worldPublished in the United States ojAmericaby Addison Wesley Longman New York Addison Wesley Longman Limited 1996All rights reserved; no part of this publication may bereproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmittedin any form or by any means elect ronic mechanicalphotocopying recording or otherwise without either theprior written permission of the Publishes or a licencepermitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issuedby the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd.90 Tottenham Court Road London W1P 9HEFirst published 1996ISBN 0 582 291305 PprBritish Library Cataloguing- in-Publica tion DataA catalogue record for this book savailable fro m the British LibraryLibrary of Congress C a t a l o g i n g ~ i n P u b l i c a t i o n DataA catalog record for this book has been applied forSet byProduced through Longman Malaysia TCP

ForHilary Hiroko and Benbothmy Mums and Dadsand Tom and Floozie


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ontents

Preface: how to use this book xAuthor s acknowledgements xivPublisher s acknowledgements xv1 ho is stylistics? 11 1 Introduction 11.2 Foregrounding 101.3 An example of stylistic analysis 16

1.4 Who was stylistics? 27Discussion of exercises 28Notes 32Further reading 33Checksheet 1: deviation, parallelism and fore grounding 342 More on foregrounding deviation and parallelism 362.1 Introduct ion 362.2 Kinds of deviation 372.3 More about parallelism 632.4 Meaning, style and choice 68Discussion of exercises 72Notes 78Further reading 793 Style variation in texts 803.1 Style variation in English 803.2 Literature and dialect 873.3 Literature and medium 913.4 Literature and tenor 913.5 Medium and tenor intertwined 933.6 Literature and domain 963.7 n extended example of style variation 98

3.8 How finicky can you get? 101Discussion of exercises 103


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Further reading 104Checksheet 2: style variation 1054 Sound meaning and effect 1064 1 Introduction 1064.2 Alliteration, assonan h107 ce, r yme and related matters

4.3 Sound symbolism 114~ h o n a e s t h e m e s 119DISCUssIon of exercises 122Notes 123

Further reading 124Checksheet 3: phonetic structure 124\

5 ~ r t h m W a h n d ~ e t r e in the reading ofpoetry 125. at S rhythm? 1255.2 Rhythm in language 1265.3 Metre 12754 D rr .. I ~ e r e n t kinds of metre 1315.5 FittIng together the metre and whatto say 134 a poet wants5.6 I n t o ~ a t i o n or sentence stress 1425.7 M e t n c ~ and phonetic organisation put toappropnate use 1465.8 Rhythm and timing 1505.9 Foot, line and grammar 1555. 0 extended analysis 158DISCUSslOn of exercises 162Notes 165Further reading 166Checksheet 4: metrical structure 166

6 D6rama: the conversational genre 1681 Introduction 168The d ~ s c o u r s e s t r u c t u r e ~ o f drama 169. like real conversation s dramatic dial _DISCUssIon of exercises 189 ogue.Note 193Further reading 193

Checksheet 5: discourse structure and speech realism7 The m fpollt arung speech acts turn-taking andeness 1957.1 Speech acts 1957.2 Turn-taking d .an tOpIC control 205

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7.3 Politeness 212Discussion of exercises 217Notes 217Further reading 219Checksheet 6: turn-taking, speech acts and politeness 2198 Assumpt ions presupposit ions and the inferring of

meaning 2228.1 Introduction 2228.2 Schema theory 2278.3 Presuppositions 2328.4 Inference 2388.5 An example analysis 246Discussion of exercises 250Further reading 252Checksheet 7: inferring meaning 2529 Fictional prose and point of view 2559.1 Introduct ion 2559.2 The discourse structure of fictional prose 2569.3 Linguistic indicators ofviewpoint 2639.4 A more extended example 279

Discussion of exercises 282Further reading 286Checksheet 8: linguistic indicators of point of view 28610 Speech and thought presentation 28810.1 Introduction 28810.2 n example of variation in speech presentation29110.3 The categories of speech presentation discussed indetail 29510.4 Thought presentation 311Discussion of exercises 320

Notes 323Further reading 324Checksheet 9: speech and thought presentation 324. Prose style 32611.1 Introduction: authoria l style and text style 32611.2 Lies, damned lies and statistics 33111.3 What language features should we examine toelucidate text style? 33411.4 Analysing style and meaning in a passage from TheGreat Gatsby 511.5 Concluding remarks 348


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9 Exploring the language of poems plays and prose

3 7 An extended example of style variationWe have already dealt with language variation according todomain inside a text without noting it explicitly, when weexamined Adlestrop in 3.5. The reason that lexical items todo with trains and the countryside respectively occur in thetwo stanzas is because Thomas has chosen to write about thesubject matters with which those items are associated. Thegrouping of lexical items into associated areas of vocabularyare referred to by linguists as lexical or associative fields. InNaming of Parts , Henry Reed, a World War II poet,

produces a systematic series of contrasts between the lexicalfields associated with war and the natural world. In so doinghe also exploits our intuitive knowledge of military languageand the language of instruction:

Example 9To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday, 1)We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,To-day we have naming of parts. JaponicaGlistens like coral in all of the neighbouring gardens, 5)

And to-day we have naming of parts.This is the lower sling swivel. And thisIs the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,Which in your case you have not got. The branches 10)Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,

Which in our case we have not got.This is the safety-catch, which is always releasedWith an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let meSee anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy 15)If you have any strength in your tl:umb. The blossomsAre fragile and motionless, never letting anyone seeAny of them using their finger.And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of thisIs to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it (20)Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call thisEasing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwardsThe early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:

They call it easing the Spring.

Style variation in texts 99They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy 25)If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,Which in our case we have not got; and the almond blossomSilent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwardsand forwards, 30)For today we have naming of parts.(Henry Reed, Naming of Parts )

If we look at the first four verses of this poem we can see thatthere is a systematic division which takes place in the middle ofthe fourth line of each stanza. Up to that point in each versethe speaker is a weapons instructor in the army, probably asergeant or a corporal, giving instructions on the use of a rifleto some assembled recruits. However, the remaining part ofeach stanza appears to be the unspoken thoughts of one ofthose recruits. Alternatively, the recruit could be directlyaddressing us, the readers. Often, when the poem is performedit is read by two people, the first with a working-classsergeant major voice, and the other with voice properties.like those I have already suggested for the second half ofAdlestrop .

The most obvious features of the language of instructionare the use of commands. And please do not let me/See anyoneusing his finger (14/15) is an imperative command and and to -morrow morning, We shall have what to do qfter firing (2/3) can beinterpreted as a combined statement and command. Other, lessobvious features of the language of instruction, are sentenceswhere the speaker tells the hearers what they must alreadyknow e.g. And this is the piling swivel, /Which in your case youhave not got (9/10) or where he tells them what they are. capable of doing e.g. You can do it quite easy lj you have anystrength in your thumb 15/16)).

These instructions assume an audience which has the riflesreferred to in their possession. We know this for a variety ofreasons. Firstly, there are a number of words or phrases whichrefer to items present in the immediate situational context andcode those items in terms of distance from the speaker. Suchexpressions are usually called deictic.3 Examples are this(indicating that the item is close to the speaker; if that ) instanzas 2, 3 and 4 and the close time deictics to-day, yesterdayand to-morrow in stanza 1 (compare that day , the day beforeand the day after ). In this case, of course, there is no realsituational context; instead we, the readers, have to imagine an


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100 Exploring the language of poems, plays and prose

appropriate situation. The use of eixis is thus one of theways in which writers persuade readers to imagine a fictionalworld when they read poems, novels and plays.

The second reason that we know that the instructor isaddressing a set of people present with him is his use of~ r o n o u n s l/me; you and we) referring to himself and hislIsteners. There is also some verbal indication that he ismonitoring the reactions of his hearers as he speaks to themif. as you see in line 20).4.The .fact that it is military weapon training that the men are

bemg. m s t r u c t ~ d in is made clear by use of the relevanttechmcal termmology, and the status of the instructor as an o . n ~ o m m i s s i o n e d officer is \ indicated by the use of theadJectlve easy. as an a ~ v e r b in line 15. This is a grammaticalfeature assocIated WIth various working-class dialects ofEnglish, and in World War II the commissioned officerswould have been from the middle-classes and above and the1 nkwer ra s would have comprised working-class soldiers.

The p ~ e t i c description of the natural world in the gardenssurroundmg the soldiers will not need such detailed

e x a m ~ n a t ~ o n as v:e have already covered similar ground in ourexammatlOn of Adlestrop . In the last two and a half lines of~ a c h stanza, starting with the new sentence in the fourth line

e a c ~ case, the rifle terminology, short sentences andmstru.ctlOnal language are replaced by words and phrasesrefernn? to natural world, longer sentences and poetictropes lIke SImIle and metaphor e.g. Japonica/Glistens like coraland The branches/Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures).

The result of all of this is a comparison between war and itsaccompanying death and destruction on the one hand andon t h e other, the peace of the gardens and the g e n ~ r a t i v ~qualItIes the natural world e.g. ~ h e early bees are assaultingand f u m ~ l l n g the flowers: /They call it easing the Spring. This

c o n t r ~ s t S m a ~ e . more ironic and direct by a complex pattern?f e x l C ~ l repetltion. The last line of each of the stanzas, whichS t h ~ s n the natural world part of the poem in each case

C O ~ s ~ l t u e s a .repetition of phraseology found in the w e a p o ~trammg sectIOn of that stanza. The war world thus appears atfirst sight to invade the natural world.

I have made a point so far of talking only about the firstfour stanzas of the poem. This is because the last stanzaconstitutes a significant and interesting internal deviation fromthe pattern so far described. At first sight its juncture in line 4

Style variation n texts 1 1

also reflects the war/nature division seen in the rest of thepoem. But this time the line 4 syntactic division is not asentence division. Indeed, despite a number of major syntacticjunctures, the last stanza is one complete sentence. Moreover,this time the whole stanza is made up of an amalgam ofrepetitive echoes from earlier stanzas. Most of the echoes inthe first three and a h alf lines of the stanza come from the warsections of previous stanzas, but not all of them do. Inparticular, the first clause They call it easing the Spring is arepetition from the last line of the previous stanza. We knowthis must be a nature reference, not a military one because theword Spring is capitalised, as it was in the nature section ofstanza 4, but not in the war section of the stanza where it firstappears.

Once we have noticed the point about Spring it is easier tosee that Which in our case we have not got in line 28 is a moreexact repetition of the natural world version of line 12 thanthe war world version in line 10. The garden section of thelast stanza, on the other hand, repeats items exclusively fromthe natural world sections of previous verses, except for thevery last line of the poem, which repeats the clause in the firststanza which occurred in both the war and nature parts of thestanza.

What are we to make of these internally deviant features ofthe last stanza of Naming of Parts ? In the first four stanzas itseemed that the pattern of repetition represented the invasionof the natural world by the world of war. But in the last stanzait is the opposite which happens, suggesting a triumph of lifeover death or at least a hopeful resolution in the doublerepetition of the poem s last line. Henry Reed thusmanipulates style variation in a particularly sophisticated wayin order to guide us in interpreting his poem.

3 8 ow finicky can you getThe analysis of Henry Reed s Naming of Parts may wellhave raised in your mind an issue concerning how muchlinguistic detail a reader can be expected to pick up. Is it reallyplausible that readers will notice such a small thing as a capitalversus a small s and then treat it as interpretatively significantin the way I have just suggested? Surely real readers aren t likethat?

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Short Exploring the Language Table of Contents