Folia Anglistica
founded in 1996
Autumn 1997
Table of Contents:
Natalya
Gvishiani LEXICAL STRUCTURES AND DISCOURSE
DISCUSSION: Alexander Shveitser
Ludmila
Chinenova IDIOMS IN LEXICON AND DISCOURSE
:
DISCUSSION:
Liliya
Boldyreva LITERARY ALLUSION IN VLADIMIR NABOKOV'S
ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN TEXT OF LOLITA
DISCUSSION: Natalya Solovyova. Thinking Two Cultures
Svetlana
Decheva COGNITIVE SYLLABICS
DISCUSSION: Irina Maguidova. The Pragmalinguisticians View of Cognitive
Syllabics
LEXICAL STRUCTURES AND DISCOURSE
Natalya GVISHIANI
Abstract: The uniqueness of language depends not only on how meanings of words are structured or perceived or how words themselves are formed, but to a great extent on the established practice of using them. Human languages are often regarded as well-defined systems of conventions shared by all speakers. However, at every step we invariably come upon linguistic phenomena where the assumed regularity of structural relationship goes hand in hand with the tendency to violate the established norms and further develop the words semantic potential. Such extensional uses of words, bringing about irregularity, create new contents contributing to more complicated messages. The author of the article discusses how the lexicon of the language is viewed in terms of its functionality - the day-to-day application in speech of the units that have been so neatly systematised by various linguistic schools. Even if we have a good knowledge of dictionary meanings of words we may not be fully confident about their relevant usage in discourse, i.e. about their communicative effect. The scholar is studying such concepts as variation, differentiation, range of usage, semi-productivity and others which suggest an idea of irregularity and unpredictability of the actual functioning of the word.
Introduction
Every human language presents a unique and peculiar picture of complex ties and relationships where regular and irregular features interact and even contradict each other. Although in most linguistic descriptions language appears as a well-structured phenomenon, traditionally this view prevails in phonological and grammatical investigations. Phonology and grammar are generally given the highest priority in structural analysis as being dependent on regular and predictable oppositions of elements within generalised entities or categories. The notion of structure therefore has only rarely been applied to the study of the lexicon (vocabulary) of a given language.
As is well-known, there are a number of reasons for such a trend in the evolution of linguistic thinking. First of all, the lexicon of a language includes hundreds of thousands of words whose semantic and discoursal (functional) properties go far beyond the regular (obligatory) relations. Not only these properties commonly described as the words meaning are subject to dynamic change in the course of language development, but their versatile nature makes them often elusive, unpredictable and often ambiguous in real speech. Secondly, it should be pointed out that because of the diversified and sometimes conflicting variations of the words semantics within the total system of the lexicon, any attempt at its systematisation is likely to be but of a very small effect.
Of the oppositely-oriented ways of semantic characterisation the following deserve our special attention:
most obviously the interaction of paradigmatic and syntagmatic relationships proves to be a decisive factor in any analysis of meaning. The semantics of a lexical item presents a structure where the lexical-semantic variants of the word are brought together within a paradigm. At the same time the syntagmatic functioning of words does not only reveal their semantic potential but develops it by bringing the words in contact and interaction with other linear elements;
the balance of referential and emotive content of lexical items in their manifestations in language and speech. In this respect we can single out the central (core) meaning or meanings of the word and a variety of the peripheral senses it can acquire in context;
the productivity and semi-productivity of lexical-semantic relations determining the range of usage as well as the degree of probability ( or certainty ) with which the actual realisation of particular meanings and patterns is likely to be taking place;
inherent and adherent properties of the words semantics in the functional differentiation of the vocabulary; the interaction of meanings and functions, style and register features of lexical items;
use and user-related factors in lexical variation.
The above list of features relevant in the analysis of the words semantics is by no means exhaustive: apparently there are other factors which might be mentioned and introduced into our discussion. However it seems essential that for the sake of clarity and precision we shall have to reduce the number of concepts and terms used.
As can be seen, the key-words in our preliminary discussion of lexical semantics include variation, differentiation, range of usage, semi-productivity and others which suggest an idea of irregularity and unpredictability of the actual functioning of the word as a unit of meaning. Although we are quite convinced that human languages can be regarded as code-like entities - i.e. well-defined systems of conventions shared by all speakers, we invariably come to the conclusion that the assumed regularity of structural relationships goes hand in hand with a persistent tendency towards violation of the established norms and further development of the words semantic potential. Such extensional uses of words, bringing about irregularity, create a new content contributing to a more complicated message.
This is clearly seen in contrastive studies of languages as well as in foreign language learning. Even if we have a good knowledge of dictionary meanings of words we may not be fully confident about their relevant usage in discourse, i.e. about their communicative effect.
The grammar of choice
The uniqueness of language depends not only on how meanings of words are structured or perceived or how words themselves are formed, but also to a great extent on the established practice of using them. Alongside with the grammar of structures there is the so-called grammar of choice, which governs the use of forms and words in a particular situation [Gak, 1977]. This does not always depend on conventional structures. Other regularities need to be discovered, those related to the domain of speech and connected with the structure of language, and its functioning.
Regularities of usage form the grammar of speech, which is reflects the idiom of the language - its specific and peculiar features formed on basis of habits, skills, norms, traditions and standards followed by speakers in speech. Structural rules give us only part of the picture, the other side of it, as it were, - i.e. the actual parallels and correlations between words in speech acts, which are to be discovered empirically or experimentally during the analysis of discourse.
Hence the unity and the opposition of the two notions: lexical structures and discourse which appear in the title of the present paper. These will be viewed as the major factors in perceiving relations of meaning and how they function in speech production.
The metalanguage
The notion of structure in its most general sense "applies to the main abstract characteristic of a semiotic system [D".Crystal, 1985]. A language is a semiotic system (although of a peculiar kind), because it presents a structure (or a network) of interrelated units. The meaning of each unit within this network can be established only with reference to the whole. As can be seen, the terms structure and system are used interchangeably here. This does not suggest, however, that they are generally indistinguishable. If we say, for example, that the lexicon of a language presents a system, we assume that its units are semantically interrelated, but some sections of the total network will inevitably be better structured than others, thus revealing the systemic properties to a greater or less extent. In this connection we may speak of the structure of morphological oppositions with reference to word-formation, for example, to name one of the areas most easily lending itself to generalisation in the course of lexical-semantic analysis. One might, therefore, talk of the structure of the lexical morphological system of a particular language [ibid. p. 292].
The aims and tasks of semiotics as a philological discipline go far beyond descriptions of sign systems as they are, i.e. in their constant, rigid or static state and include the functioning of lexical units as well as the dynamic and changeable properties they acquire in the process of communication. The complete system of these functions can be also studied as a structure where some areas will lend themselves to orderly representation better than others.
Thus, on the one hand, we have the paradigmatic view of structure, and on the other, the application of this term to a network of interrelations which exist between lexical items in their syntagmatic functioning.
This brings us to the notion of discourse which refers to "a continuous stretch of language larger than a sentence [ibid., p. 96] constituting a speech event. Although discourse is often regarded as a spontaneous realisation of language where no linguistic structuring can or should be discovered, it seems essential to adopt a broader perspective view of it as "a dynamic process of expression and comprehension governing the performance of people within linguistic interaction [ibid., p96].
There exists a variety of rules, conventions and linguistic regularities which determine the features and functions of speech events. Among them are pragmatic and psychological parameters, the purpose and function of discourse, its communicative characteristics, etc.
Discourse analysis distinguishes between different functional varieties of speech events, such as monologues and dialogues, oratory, narrative, and so on. All these varieties or genres appear to be in relation to each other particularly as regards the choice of linguistic units, as well as rules and conventions governing their use in speech. The contrasts of the informative and the imaginative, formal and informal, spoken and written media in communication make us think of the mutual dependencies between discourse functions as an important parameter in establishing their essential features. In other words, the contrast of linguistic regularities in each case gives us a clue to a better understanding of their properties. For example, spoken discourse is probably best described by contrasting it with what is known as written discourse and vice versa. Hence an attempt to regard discoursal peculiarities as sufficiently systematic features which have a direct bearing on the functioning of discrete lexical units.
Lexical
structures
In our discussion of the material we shall first have a look at the parameter of structure in revealing and developing the semantic potential of the word.
Polysemy
The notion of structure comes to our mind when we come across the realisation of different meanings of one and the same word in a stretch of speech. As is well-known most lexical items in English have a range of different meanings ( e.g. design can be: 1) a drawing or an outline; 2) the art of making such drawings; 3) the general arrangement or planning of smth; 4) a plan or intention ). All these meanings, however different, have some semantic features in common to preserve and ensure the integrity of a word. The words meaning therefore can be viewed as a semantic structure where its new and old senses become interrelated to form a certain hierarchy. Some sections of what can be described as the semantic scope of a word can be better delimited than others.
Let us have a look at the verb to weigh. Within a range of its meanings a number of lexical-semantic variants can be singled out and presented as separate items. Thus, we have the following structure of variants as can be found in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary: weigh - 1) to measure how heavy smth. is by means of scales; 2) to show a certain weight ("How much do you weigh?" ); 3) to consider carefully the relative value or importance of smth. ("weighing the pros and cons"); 4) to lift an anchor out of the water; 5) to be considered important when smth/smb is being judged ("Her past achievements weighed in her favour as a candidate).
Although the number and order of variants are subject to change as we pass on from one dictionary to another or set up to offer our own version of the words overall meaning, this kind of description leaves us fairly certain as to the nature of the phenomenon itself, i.e. the words meaning being structured in a certain way. Within the same dictionary entry we discover the phrasal verb to weigh down having the meanings of 1) to make smb/smth bend by being heavy ("The porter was weighed down by all the luggage); and 2) to make smb. feel anxious or depressed (" The responsibilities of the job are weighing him down).
What is the relationship between the variants here? Both of them are related semantically to the verb to weigh by transfer of meaning and association. But probably the most interesting observation in this respect is that the lexical-semantic variants contribute to each other meaningfulness in context and bring out the respective senses more vividly when used together in a stretch of speech:
"He rose from the table in bitter mood. Weighed down with doubts, struggling with his depression, he made his way to his study to telephone his wife. As he walked through the hall, he caught sight of his handsome, flushed features, his tall erect figure in the long gilt mirror and was disgusted. Good God ! he thought, what a bloody, shameful waste!
"Rose Lorimer, struggling with weighed-down shopping baskets, made her immense way among the marble and mosaic of the Corner House, caught a passing view of herself in a mirror and was pleased ".
( Angus Wilson. Anglo-Saxon Attitudes )
The two passages following each other in the text of the novel, give the reader an idea of the emotional state of the characters. The whole description rests on contrasted emotional states, such as being disgusted suggesting depression, and being pleased as each of the characters catches sight of himself/herself in a mirror. The repetition of the words struggling, made his/her way, caught sight/view of suggests that the two passages are meant as contrasting parts referring to parallel episodes within the entire whole of the story. This impression is reinforced by the parallel use of weigh down 1) depressed and weigh down 2) heavy. Pragmatically the author is making use of the mutual relatedness of the variants. The notion of structure comes to the fore here because the two meanings of the word focus both on contrast and relatedness of senses.
It can be added that the structural properties of the words meanings give us often a new and unexpected knowledge of their actual role and significance in a speech event.
An extra ounce of meaning created by contrasting the senses of the word within a piece of discourse brings out the systemic properties of the lexicon on which the expression of a new content depends. The speakers of the language are well aware of this option enabling them to manipulate lexical units in such a way as to satisfy the demand for creativity.
It follows that we should also relate meaning to pragmatics - "the way in which sentences are actually used and interpreted in speaker-hearer communication [Leech, 1981]. Lexical structures should therefore be viewed as a feature of discourse since they cannot be entirely separated from the circumstances of language use. So far, as we have seen, one such circumstance has been identified as a necessary condition for the realisation of the communicative potential of semantic relationships, - i.e. the context of language use clearly indicating the creativity of the speaker.
Antonymy
An altogether different type of sense relations between lexical items is antonymy or "semantic oppositeness". English vocabulary as that of any other language is structured in a certain way according to the principle of an either/or contrast. Some antonyms however allow for degrees of difference (such as big - small, for example) being thus called "graded antonyms". The lack of any gradability is illustrated by such pairs as single - married or boy - girl which are generally referred to as "ungraded antonyms" or "complementaries [D.Crystal, ibid. p. 60].
The idea of the oppositeness of meaning also presupposes the incompatibility of the opposites. Most antonyms can be said to be mutually exclusive : they do not normally occur together in describing an object or an entity. Most often "the assertion of one of the items implies the denial of the other: an entity cannot be both at once"[ibid.]. In discourse however (in creative writing, in particular) we may come across the syntagmatic use of antonyms, where the systemic-structural ties between lexical items are again brought to our notice. Here is an example :
The prospect of speaking to his wife on the telephone and, even more, of the family Christmas party greatly heightened his depression. He decided not to open his letters until he had read the news or to open The Times until he had softened his spirits with the more popular daily newspaper which always accompanied it. It was an unwise decision: the optimistic presentation of decidedly bad news on the front page turned his passive gloom into active irritation".
(Angus Wilson. Anglo-Saxon Attitudes)
Like in the previous case where we discussed the structure of meanings of a single item, in this passage we set out to comprehend not only the semantics of individual words, but also a specific set of sense relations which hold between them. Again we observe both contrast and relatedness of meanings in trying to grasp the overall content (or message) of a given piece of text. Here we clearly deal with relations of oppositeness which contribute to the expressivity and vividness of the narrative.
Drawing parallels and highlighting contrasts can be seen as an important means in constructing the passage. For the development of the story itself these techniques prove to be equally significant, especially as the author draws our attention to the conflicting circumstances which affect the emotional state of characters. Hence the parallel use of combinations, such as "heightened his depression" and "softened his spirits", "passive gloom" and " active irritation ". As for heightened and softened, they realise a potential or contextual antonymic relationship in the utterance, whereas passive and active are antonyms proper conveying the idea of converseness. The two antonyms are syntagmatically brought together to emphasise their relatedness within the system of language vocabulary.
Synonymy
Another type of semantic relationship to be discussed here is synonymy, although, as is well- known, it does not present a perfect type of a linguistic category. In human languages equivalence of meaning is hardly ever observed on the emic level because no two words are absolutely identical in their meanings, connotations, ways of usage, register features or frequency of occurrence.
"Synonyms are lexical units whose senses are identical in respect of central semantic traits, but differ, if at all, only in respect of what we may provisionally describe as minor or peripheral traits [Cruise, 1986]". Most often therefore we deal with contextual synonyms which are interchangeable only in some contexts.
The relationship of identity or presumed equivalence of meaning does not lend itself to a truly coherent categorisation and tends to reflect the contextual use of lexical items. A specific feature of synonyms is that they can appear in both paradigmatic and syntagmatic sets. Dictionaries of synonyms bring words together on the basis of relatedness of their meanings. In this process identity and differentiation, continuity and variability come to the fore as crucial parameters. In dealing with synonymy, however, it is customary to emphasise semantic distinctions between lexical units rather than their affinity. Distinctions of meaning and usage are important in learning to use synonyms properly in speech, especially when it comes to choosing the correct word in a particular context or speech-situation. That is why in dictionaries we find a paradigmatic description of synonyms aimed at specifying their features of difference rather than those of sameness. For example, in "The Dictionary of Synonyms of the Russian Language " by Z.E. Alexandrova we find both stylistic markers (colloquial, literary, poetic, old use, etc.) and supporting minimal contexts limiting the use of lexical items to a given particular area or situation.
It can be argued that synonymy is largely a phenomenon of speech. It has to do with an infinite variety or range of vocabulary of highly developed literary languages. Because of the individual nature of language use in discourse speakers make their own choice of linguistic expression depending on how they perceive a given object or entity. Whenever something comes to our mind there is always a number of ways of how it can be expressed in a natural human language. The expression plane of semantically related words is synchronically quite incompatible, but nevertheless they tend to be centred on something in our inner minds eye - an isolated general idea, concept or category. Synonymy therefore is closely connected with the notion of thematic groups - sets of words covering well-defined fragments of extralinguistic reality.
What has been said above can be illustrated by an example. In "Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen we come across a piece of fascinating metalinguistic discussion as Edward and Marianne talk about how they enjoy nature and the surrounding country-side: Marianne describing her admiration, and Edward mostly remaining sober and unaffected:
" This was a subject which ensured Marianne's attention, and she was beginning to describe her own admiration of those scenes, and to question him more minutely on the objects that had particularly struck him, when Edward interrupted her by saying, You must not inquire too far, Marianne - remember, I have no knowledge in the picturesque, and I shall offend you by my ignorance and want of taste, if you come to particulars. I shall call hills steep, which ought to be bold! surfaces strange and uncouth, which ought to be irregular and rugged; and distant objects out of sight, which ought to be indistinct through the soft medium of a hazy atmosphere".
(Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility)
The parallel expressions in this context - "steep" vs. bold" (hills), surfaces strange and uncouth" vs. irregular and rugged", "distant objects out of sight vs. " indistinct through the soft medium of a hazy atmosphere" - although name the same referents are semantically quite distinct. They convey different perceptions of the things-meant and focus on their different facets. At the same time it can be assumed that both members of the oppositions are somehow associated with the same general idea of the objects that are being named or described by means of words.
It follows that when encoding a message the speaker plays an active and even creative role in using the language. His capacity for applying different linguistic options to one and the same situation derives ultimately from the fact that he (or she) is making sense of a situation in a number of different and sometimes divergent ways.
In this connection it is interesting to observe that words which would not normally be regarded as synonyms in dictionaries can develop their semantic repertoires in contextual use and begin to function as members of new synonymic sets. The registered (permanent) meanings of words are those which occur in typical utterances. To gain a deeper insight into the words imagery however we need to turn to its syntagmatic uses in discourse and see how in actual speech it stretches out its resources to join other semantic and synonymic sets. The syntagmatic ties are not the words constant relationships; the extensional given meaning of the word is not its permanent feature but the one which is observed only in a particular speech-event.
The paradigmatic groups of synonyms have as a rule a hierarchical structure. This can be interpreted as a relationship between a generic term belonging to a higher level of abstraction or generalisation and a set of specific terms belonging to a lower level of the hierarchy. The term of a higher level includes the meanings of the terms of a lower level, but in a more general way. We can also say that the specific term contains the meaning of the generic term which comes over and above its individual more precise meaning.
In a paradigmatic group the centre and the periphery can be singled out. Words belonging to the centre denote the most important general characteristics of the notion, they are morphologically simple, neutral in their stylistic colouring, and are considered to be commonly used items. As a rule a hierarchical group has one basic word. For example, "to sleep" is the centre of its group, being regarded as a word of a general and neutral meaning. "To doze" and "to snooze" are the periphery of the group, i.e. the words which express additional specific individual meanings.
In the Language Activator Dictionary the hierarchical structure of paradigmatic groups of English synonyms is presented. There are general concept words covering a broad semantic area and a set of words with more precise meanings. For example, the words "burgle", "shoplift", "loot", "pinch", "mug", "embezzle", "hold up" share some portions of their meanings with the key word "STEAL", but functionally and situationally they are actually quite different.
Let us now consider the relationship between the paradigmatic (conceptual ) groupings of words and their actual syntagmatic realisation in context. Does the meaning of the synonym as registered in the dictionary always coincide with its actual use in particular contexts?
Our examples come from a story by Fay Weldon entitled "Weekend" [Weldon, 1981]:
Then supper - pork chops in sweet and sour sauce (Pork is such a dull meat if you dont cook it properly: Martin) green salad from the garden, or such green salad as the rabbits have left. (Martha, did you really net them properly? Be honest now!: Martin ) and saut potatoes".
What we are going to do now is to have a look at the adjective dull in the present context to see whether its syntagmatic realisation corresponds to its descriptions in dictionaries. The Language Activator Dictionary lists dull alongside with boring, uninteresting, deaden. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English registers the following meanings: "not clear and sharp", "cloudy", "slow in thinking", "not active, sluggish".
In the present context however dull has the meaning of tasteless or having no taste. It enters an altogether different set of meanings (and words ) by virtue of metaphoric development of its semantic scope. The extensional meaning brings it together with lexical items used to describe something that has little or no taste and is therefore uninteresting to eat or drink, such as: tasteless, bland, insipid.
The syntagmatic relationship with the semantic set under the Key-word tasteless does not acquire the permanence of paradigmatic ties. That is why dull is not registered among other items of the given entry in any of the dictionaries.
Another example:
Martha knows
that if breakfast for seven is to be manageable the sink must be cleared of
dishes. A tricky meal , breakfast... She is running around in her nightie. Now
if that had been Katie - but there's something so practical about Martha".
Paradigmatically the metaphoric meaning of practical is described as "sensible, because it does not involve anything too difficult or risky" in The Language Activator; in The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English "sensible" and "effective" are used to define the adjective practical.
In the present context however this adjective functions not as a general concept word with a broad range of meanings but as a more precise word. Its semantic scope develops to include references to other semantically related words and sets of meanings. "Practical" acquires an evoked connotation, which links it with the synonymic set beginning with the Key-word ordinary: average, standard, regular, down-to earth. The latter item seems to be closest in meaning and connotation to what is implied by practical in the present context.
Synonymic condensation
One type of context that apparently exerts a modifying influence on the meanings associated with lexical items is synonymic condensation. According to the definition this term refers to situations when writers or speakers bring together several words from one the same thematic group (or "words which bear on the same idea) to enhance the purport, to make more detailed and more refined a certain underlying sense, to add conviction and force to their statements or, simply, to make for greater prosodic prominence of the thing-meant [Minajeva, 1982]. For example ,
Life now, by comparison, was wonderful for Martha. People, children, houses, conversations, food, drink, theatres - even, now, a career. Martin standing between her and the hostility of the world - popular, easy, funny Martin beckoning the rest of the world into earshot. "
What we have here is a description of Martins various properties which taken together make up for a certain general impression created on the basis of synonymic condensation. The items in question are not synonyms proper: however they become close in the connotation they express. The meaning of the adjective popular here is sociable, which is not registered in the dictionary where we have more general meanings: "liked by many people", "common", "wide-spread", "from the general public". In the present context popular acquires a derived (extensional) meaning, which brings it together with words, such as "sociable", "friendly", "outgoing".
Similarly the adjectives easy and funny acquire context-bound meanings. Easy means "easy going", "friendly", "warm", "amiable". Although easy and popular are not truly synonymous, in the present context they develop transferred meanings which bear on the same idea, and are used together to enhance a certain underlying purport. Funny becomes a member of the synonymic set : "cheerful", "contented","friendly".
What we can see is that the three adjectives popular, easy and friendly are used together as elements of synonymic condensation, being not synonymous paradigmatically, but being used as such in the given context. Their syntagmatic realisation brings them together within the semantic set under the key-word "friendly" - "pleasant", "nice", "easy to get along with", "outgoing", "sociable". Of the three adjectives only easy is included in the dictionary under the general concept word "friendly". As for the other two their use in the meaning of "friendly", "sociable", "cheerful" is determined by the context and does not go beyond the limits of contextual syntagmatic relationships.
Having discussed the above examples we may conclude that within synonymic condensation a word can become not only more expressive and powerful in its connotations but is also capable of changing its meaning thus displaying a broader semantic scope. The acquired meaning can bring it into a syntagmatic relationship with a new set of meanings.
The category of synonymy like other lexical taxonomies can be approached in a number of ways. In the strictest sense synonymy is realised between semantically related words which "manifest a high degree of semantic overlap, and also have a low degree of implicit contrastiveness [Cruse, 1986, p. 266]". This type of lexical items can be regarded as synonyms proper, which represent the semantic relationship of (partial) meaning equivalence within the system of language vocabulary.
What has been described above as paradigmatic (structural) synonymic relationship does not however exhaust the notion of synonymy. This category goes beyond the limits of inner semantic ties and finds realisation in various types of discourse. In actual speech we are invariably confronted with the apparent multiplicity of semantic uses of a word. The meaning of a lexical item is in some sense different in every distinct context in which it occurs. As we have seen, "a single sense can be modified in an unlimited number of ways by different contexts, each context emphasising certain semantic traits, and obscuring or suppressing others [Cruse, 1986, p. 52].
In what follows we shall have a look at how further variation among synonyms and other lexical units is caused by their use in different registers within the language.
Discourse: the
Structure of Registers
Every language offers an endless variety of words which differ not only in their meanings but also in features, such as their behaviour in speech, functions, stylistic values and registers.
The total lexicon of a language, in all its vastness and complexity, consists not of isolated items, but of certain types of functional varieties of speech which are commonly described as registers. Varieties of English (as of any other language) can be recognised both according to the user (dialectal differentiation) and according to use (differentiation in terms of registers and functional styles).
Functional Styles : Informative vs. Imaginative
It is generally assumed that all human speech can basically be divided into intellective and imaginative. In intellective communication the speaker or writer whose aim is to pass on information does not depend so much on the power of words and utterances, on their connotative values. In contrast with intellective prose , in fiction the writer is concerned chiefly with the way the utterance is arranged and constructed, the poetic function of language as well as all kinds of additional expressive- emotional-evaluative overtones thus coming to the fore.
The best example of informative language is the academic scholarly writing. It presents the general scientific vocabulary which systematically covers the main stages in the development of research. These stages (such as prospect, outlook, checking up, making conclusions, etc. ) remain largely the same whatever the field of enquiry. If informative language relies on the function of message, imaginative style is based on the function of aesthetic impact [Vinogradov, 1963].
In the course of previous discussion it has been shown that the actual or contextualised meaning of the word is the result of its realisation in a particular speech act. Dictionary meanings are only part of the actual picture when it comes to using words in communication. In this connection we can speak of the interaction of meanings and functions, i.e. of how the semantic repertoires of lexical items are related to (or affected by) the functional differentiation of speech.
Within the overall semantics of the word we can distinguish between static and dynamic dimensions. In most cases extended meanings are dynamic, i.e. connotative or creative. These are opposed to conventionalised meanings which are realised in stereotype situations being determined by the idiom of the language.
Conventionalised meanings are static in the sense that they remain part of the words semantic structure. They are reflections of typical and predictable contexts the word can be used in. Dynamic-creative meanings, on the contrary, are extensions of the word's semantic potential, the so-called free meanings.
Any text, any piece of writing or speech includes both types of semantic realisation of words. On the one hand, there are always words used objectively in their core primary meanings which serve to introduce the subject, to tell the story, to give the reader factual information. On the other - there are dynamic uses which are responsible for the speakers own judgement of what he is telling or writing about, his individual views and attitudes.
This brings us to a variety of genres, because in different functional styles different types of lexical items will prevail.
The first piece of writing we are going to have a look at belongs to the genre of academic scholarly prose:
"In America the term ESL is a blanket term. In Britain we use ESL and EFL to refer to quite different learning and teaching situations. ESL in Britain has evolved to meet the changing needs of its learners, and EFL may have much to learn from it . Here the author describes the path ESL has followed and the challenges facing it today. "
( Constant Leung. ESL in England: Surviving the 1990s. ).
This is a perfectly uniform piece of writing, fully in keeping with the conventions of the genre. The idea is to introduce the subject of an article on ESL in England and to give some factual information, first and foremost. Most lexical items are conventional phrases and collocations which represent the typical patterns of usage. Against this neutral uniform background some lexical items stand out. The word "blanket" in a "blanket term" is not used in its core primary meaning. This is one of the uses of the word which is getting more conventional now. As for "the path ESL has followed" and "challenges facing it today" - these are slightly metaphoric expressions which can be paraphrased and compared with their non-metaphoric counterparts: the way in which ESL has been developing and the demands ESL is confronted with today.
Now we change the subject of our material and therefore the genre and the register. If we turn to journalism we shall see that the style of writing becomes more inflated and emotional. This immediately affects the semantic realisation of words in this type of context. The balance of the referential and the emotive content as expressed by lexical items changes: there will be more words to be assessed and appreciated in terms of their acquired (or adherent) properties:
In the 1980s a new quality paper, The Independent, was successfully launched, which wanted to challenge the strangle-hold wealthy financiers held over most of the British newspaper industry. In spite of negative experiences in most other countries where the launch of new national papers has been spectacularly unsuccessful, The Independent, proved the pessimists wrong and today constitutes an important and integral part of the cultural and political forum in Britain ".
(Ole Grell. The British Press.
Modern English Teacher.
Vol.1, No.4, December, 1992 ).
Here we come across the verb "to launch" whose emotional- expressive colouring should be taken note of especially against the background of a fairly neutral expression, such as was successfully started or founded. The use of emotional lexis as in "spectacularly unsuccessful" should be mentioned in creating a special timbre or tenor of the passage which goes beyond the threshold of matter-of-fact factual statements. "To challenge the stranglehold" is a metaphoric expression which again is fraught with overtones in spite of the conventional use of stranglehold in cases such as "the stranglehold of large firms on industry".
The tendency towards individuality and originality culminates in genres of writing based on aesthetic impact. It is also rather pronounced in the genre of essays where the factual information and individual appraisal are welded together. Let us have a look at the following passage from one of Evelyn Waugh's essays:
In the present half century we have seen architects abandon all attempt at "style" and our eyes are everywhere sickened with boredom at the blank, unlovely, unlovable faades which have arisen from Constantinople to Los Angeles. But this use of style is literally superficial. Properly understood style is not a seductive decoration added to a functional structure; it is of the essence of a work of art ".
(Evelyn Waugh. Literary Style in England and America)
The individual view of the author is enhanced here with the help of a bit solemn "abandon" in "abandon all attempt at style"; a strong and emotional "sickened with boredom"; a paronymic succession "unlovely, unlovable faades"; and a slightly sarcastic "seductive decoration". These are the key expressions on which the purport, the pragmatic intention of the text depends. The author is not only stating a fact, but is trying to persuade the reader. The emotive content of such items stands out clearly if we consider them against the background of their more neutral analogues. This device has been described as metaphrasing, i.e. searching for a parallel expression, only different from the original one by its lack of metaphoric-expressive colouring. Metaphrasing in this case is like a commentary when the reader sets out to decode the message and offer an interpretation of what, for example, was the underlying association in comparing style to a seductive decoration, what the author actually meant to say.
The actual meanings of words in context are invariably affected by the genre of the utterance, the type of discourse, and, ultimately, the functional style in which a given lexical item is found to occur. As we have seen, the number of dynamic uses of words increases as we pass on from "the informative" to "the imaginative". All kinds of extended (or metaphoric) meanings are more likely to occur in the type of discourse where the writer's intention is not only to provide facts, but also to persuade, warn, insinuate, and, eventually, to impress and influence the reader. This can hardly be achieved by using standard or commonly shared patterns. The author of fiction deals mainly with impressions, perceptions and interpretations which are secondary with respect to underlying facts or realia and are mainly produced by the interplay of different meanings.
Two observations can be made in this connection. First: the range of the word's meanings is getting wider and more varied in contexts clearly indicating the creativity of the speaker or writer, i.e. first and foremost, in the functional style of fiction (imaginative writing). Any word in this type of discourse can acquire special significance, grow in meaning, as it were, and begin to display all kinds of connotations. Extended (dynamic) meanings of the word, those actually found in context, are open-ended: there seems to be no limit to how widely the word can vary in its metaphoric uses. It can be assumed therefore that the stylistic use of the word in creative genres contributes to the development of its semantic structure as a polysemous item.
Secondly, the underlying functions of the two types of discourse under discussion, - those of message and the aesthetic impact - determine the type of the semantic realisation of words. If in the informative language the commonly shared patterns and static meanings are mostly realised, in the imaginative variety we find dynamic uses and greater multiplicity of semantic choices as the authors strive for originality. For this purpose words more capacious in their semantics are used to convey the interplay of impressions and images.
Registers,
Specialised Functions and Social Varieties
The term register is often regarded as based on a narrower concept than the term functional style. The latter refers to major varieties encountered within language, e.g., the functional style of fiction, academic discourse, everyday speech. Register is defined as "a variety related to a particular use of the language, a particular subject or occupation"[Strevens, 1978]. "It is not the event or state of affairs being talked about that determines the choice but the convention that a certain kind of language is appropriate to a certain use "[Halliday M.A.K., McIntosh A., Strevens P., 1966, p. 87] It follows, that the difference between a functional style and a register consists in that the latter relies on a more detailed notion and may be used to refer to more particular or situationally distinct uses and varieties of language.
The parameters of the situation thus become an important factor in choosing lexical items in speech. Even if the chosen item is acceptable semantically or referentially, this may not be always satisfactory because register features impose new limits on the choice of items. Semantically or in terms of the words meaning there can be a number of ways of referring to a given thing or event, but in communication the options are often reduced to a single variety depending on extralinguistic situational factors.
The choice and arrangement of words depends on specific conventions - the institutionalised features typical of a given register. Registers can be associated with speech acts in which words not only express meanings but also perform functions, i.e. do things. For example, in conversation the speaker may choose to spend some effort on establishing contact with the listener. This function plays an important role in verbal intercourse where mutual understanding is not only the final aim of communication but an indispensable foundation of the whole of the speech event. Words and phrases, such as as a matter of fact, by the way, you know, I see, anyway, well, right have a phatic function associated with them. Most often they serve to keep the conversation going and to prevent the discomfort of a pause.
We turn to social varieties in search of the right way in which, for different purposes and on different occasions, English can be used as a means of communication. This should be done with regard to language functions and contexts of use, i.e. the relation between speaker and addressee. Our messages are worded differently depending on the immediate social situation. The relationship between speaker and listener in terms of age-difference, social status, degrees of intimacy is associated with levels of style such as formal/ informal. Another relevant feature is the distinction between written and spoken medium in terms of characteristic vocabulary. Register features as far as vocabulary is concerned range from "the extra verbiage" of formal situations revealing the lack of previous acquaintance to "an almost tacit understanding" of intimate relationships [Quirk R., Stein G., 1990]
Spoken vs. Written / Formal vs. Informal
Varieties of Language
The varying aims of communication have caused the literary language to fall into a number of registers. Depending on the purpose of communication spoken and written varieties can be singled out within language vocabulary. Each of the varieties has developed its own features and is regarded as opposed to the other one.
The situation in which the spoken variety is used and in which it develops, can be described as the presence of the listener or the interlocutor. It follows, then, that there is always the possibility of feedback between the speaker and the listener.
The written variety, on the contrary, presupposes the absence of the interlocutor. We do not usually see the author of a written message, thus, communication is one way only. There is no feedback during the interchange.
The spoken language is maintained in the form of a dialogue, the written - in the form of a monologue. The spoken language has a considerable advantage over the written in that the human voice comes into play. This is a powerful means of modulating the utterance as are all kinds of gestures, which together with intonation, give additional information [Freeborn, 1993, Zotov, 1996].
The written language tends to be more characteristically formal than spoken language, and it typically contains a more specific vocabulary. However there are informal written genres - like informal conversation represented in novels or plays, letters between close friends or some types of newspaper language and "chatty journalism".
How does the opposition of spoken and written forms of language affect the semantics of words, their range of usage and the realisation of the lexical-semantic variants of a polysemous word? What we are interested in here is whether the structure of discourse should be seen as a relevant factor in determining the semantics of lexical items in speech. We may assume that features of register give rise to new oppositions of items which would not form a structure if taken out of the actual context.
It is commonly taken for granted that the right choice of words depends not only on their meanings, but also to a great extent, on their semantic and communicative appropriateness in a given context. Speaking of appropriateness we mean that there are certain types of text and communicative functions to which lexical items are appropriate. Apart from a range of grammatical patterns in which words may be used, they are habitually or conventionally associated with a particular type of linguistic situations which determines the register. Interestingly, the relationship between the inner semantics of words and discourse turns out to be both ways: it is not only that every register has its own vocabulary, but characteristics of register are also embraced by words and made part of their inner semantic content.
This peculiarity has been recently recognised by the dictionaries where one can find special notes, labels or warnings to mark off the words as being of a particular kind of register. The stylistic values of words, such as literary, slang, old use, colloquial, etc. have always been indicated in most uni-lingual dictionaries, but more subtle distinctions are only found in some of the latest editions, like the Longman Language Activator, for example. What makes this dictionary so special in our case is that it specifies the typical contexts and patterns of usage with which words are commonly linked and which become an essential feature of their semantic content.
Thus, for instance, under the key-word immediately we can find a number of items describing the same notion: this minute, right now, outright. To grasp the meaning of this minute, for example, one needs to know what its referential content is ( this minute means immediately), but also that it is concerned with the present and what is to be done in the immediate future, within seconds of a speaker having stopped speaking:
"Katie, put that down this minute or you'll go straight to bed!"
"Back to work this minute! D' you hear?
This is a form to be used in speaking to someone directly: it cannot be carried over into a past report - you cannot write "He told them to go back to work that minute", you would have to change it to "He told them to go back to work at once / immediately". We can see from the simple language used in the examples and the address forms like Katie and you that these contexts are taken from speech [Cruse, 1986, p. 284]
In contrast with this outright ("He was killed outright when the car crashed at a high speed) is concerned with reporting events in the past and can be appropriately used when writing of something in the past.
This information helps the speaker to differentiate not only between the spoken and the written varieties of the language, but, more importantly, between the types of linguistic situations. This is what makes words the indispensable elements in speech production, and what makes it possible to use them in speech to a communicative effect.
The idiomatic use of words presupposes the choice of a typical or natural word, which native speakers would use to express a particular idea. The knowledge of what the word means (its referential meaning) becomes enriched by the knowledge of what you can do with it, how you can use it effectively and with ease either in the spoken or in the written variety.
The semantic and functional peculiarities of words can be specified with respect to the frequency of their usage in particular registers. Frequency of usage is of fundamental importance in a number of ways: in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE) it is shown by means of special signs and graphs to mark off items which are most frequently used in written and spoken English. In the Longman Language Activator (LLA) the words and phrases given as options to express a particular idea are presented in order of frequency, the first word or phrase being the most common or general. If a phrase or an item is regarded as more frequent for the spoken variety, it will be placed before a single-word item. For instance, the spoken phrase get off the subject is the first option under the key-word Subject, before the single item digress which is labelled as "formal" and, therefore, less frequently occurring in the spoken language.
A cursory glance at the dictionary entries, as presented in LDOCE, reveals a wide range of items marked as most frequent either in the spoken or the written variety of English. We may assume in this case that the structure of discourse (the opposition of the two modes of communication) is important for our understanding of the actual meanings of words and the role they play in constructing speech.
While in diachrony the etymological nature of the word gradually becomes a feature of its meaning, in synchronic realisation the regularity (or frequency) with which a given item is chosen by speakers for a particular register turns out to be a semantically relevant parameter. This characteristics places a given item very distinctly within the system of the lexicon. Thus, for example, to comprehend the meaning of the adjective providential we should first turn to its denotation: "happening just when you need it; lucky". This is how we can know about the conceptual space (the fragment of reality) which is covered by this word as part of English vocabulary. To assess its communicative significance however we need to correlate it with its synonym lucky as both of them refer to the same notion. The functional-communicative space is divided by the words in question in the following way: lucky is an adjective of the Germanic origin and is characterised by high frequency of occurrence in both formal and informal varieties of English. The formal character of providential and its limited occurrence in the language seems to be due to its Romance origin. Thus, the division of vocabulary items into "formal" and "informal" can be conditioned partly by their etymology which seems to reflect the "inner" properties of words. Semantically, authentic native words usually carry broad meanings and, consequently, they can be used in a wide range of contexts, whereas the use of words borrowed from foreign languages is mainly confined to official, formal occasions.
In defining the words meaning therefore it is essential to specify not only referential distinctions of meaning, but those of functional nature as well. The latter mostly deal with how the communicative space, i.e. the register and the speech situation - is covered by the lexical items in question.
Similarly we can observe how the "structured" meanings of words (such as colligation and collocation) are seen as appropriate to typical patterns of usage within particular registers. These meanings are placed very distinctly within the conceptual space co-ordinated with a given referential area. For example, the colligationally-bound meaning of to keep (when it is followed by a gerund, as in keep going) is attributed to spoken English where it is commonly used to mean " continue to do smth. or do smth. Repeatedly". Other meanings of this verb being linked up with their own patterns of usage, acquire other register features: for example, in the nominative meaning keep is used both in the written and spoken varieties (" to have smth. and not need to give it back: You can keep it. I don't need it. ).
Some of the collocationally-conditioned meanings of the adjective big have the label "spoken" in LDOCE: for example, its use in the meaning of "older" ("Come on, don't cry. You are a big girl now.) or when big is used to emphasise how bad something is (It's always such a big hassle finding some place to park.).
The phraseologically-bound meaning of love ( when love occurs with a conditional auxiliary should/would as a special kind of a cliché modal phrase) is marked in LDOCE as primary spoken: "Would you like to come swimming with us? - I'd love to".
In some cases the linguistically conditioned meaning of the word can be directly connected with the frequency of the latter in a particular variety of the language. Let us consider the verb to bear. Until recently, most dictionaries, for example, Hornby's Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English, have provided learners with the first, nominative meaning of the verb, i.e. to carry as used, for example, in the expression bear a heavy load. If we turn to a new type of dictionaries, such as LDOCE, where the most frequent meaning of a word is registered first, we shall see that the colligationally-conditioned meaning as realised in the negative construction can't bear comes first in the dictionary entry. In spite of the fact that to bear is labelled in the dictionary as belonging to the first thousand most frequent words in written English, the expression cant bear is likely to be found in the spoken variety: "Oh, I can't bear this man; "Please, don't leave me alone. I couldn't bear it".
It should be mentioned that the generally accepted nominative meaning of to bear - "carry" is listed in LDOCE under the number 20 in order of frequency of meanings: (literary) "A messenger arrived, bearing a message from the prince".
Thus, we may speak of a certain relationship between linguistically bound or structured meanings of the word and its occurrence in a particular variety of language. This relationship to some extent is based on linguistic criteria which signal all the modifications of the semantic core of the word.
The analysis of the words meanings across registers reveals the interaction of lexis and grammar in actual speech. The morphological aspect of the problem comes to the fore when we consider the functioning of lexical items belonging to different parts of speech, such as adjectives and adverbs, for example. What are the factors that make the adjective basic be a frequent item in both varieties of English, whereas the adverb basically is marked in LDOCE as frequently occurring only in spoken English? In this connection we might assume that this difference in usage is probably due to the difference in the morpho-syntactic functioning of the items. The syntactic functions the adverb is called upon to realise in speech are likely to intensify its use within a particular kind of the language. For example, some adverbs which are derived from adjectives by means of the suffix -ly (awfully, hopefully, naturally, surely, etc.) are mostly used as intensifiers in spoken discourse.
Thus, we may conclude that the distribution of vocabulary items between the written and spoken varieties of English can be determined by a combination of linguistic factors: etymological, syntactic, morphological. Rather often the effect they have on the word in speech may lead to its semantic modification. High semantic potentialities of spoken words in the language are revealed in their capacity to produce numerous phraseologically bound combinations and idiomatic expressions, where a change of the nominative meaning of the word is observed.
Written language, on the contrary, provides constancy of meanings of its vocabulary items which is mostly due to a restricted range of situations where clearly established written forms have precedence and weight.
Cognitive Synonyms in Context
As we have seen in our analysis of samples of written and spoken English, there are some formal differences between them in orthography, morphology and syntax as well as in conventions of usage and style. Many of these differences stem from the functional features of the written and the spoken varieties, in particular the fact that spoken conversational language is always situation-bound and provides verbal and non-verbal feedback between the speaker and the listener. It has therefore no direct counterpart in the written language.
Varieties of register, although not easily discoverable, are important in comprehending the word's meaning. Some words can be similar in meaning, i.e. refer to the same (or similar) concepts, objects or things-meant, but be different in their actual manifestations in speech. A combination of factors, such as the typical patterns of usage, frequency of occurrence, stylistic conventions of the register, become an essential feature of the words actual and potential significance as a unit within the system of language. Not only registers have their own vocabularies, but being used in structured discourse words acquire the features of the register they are typically or conventionally associated with. Thus, lexical items occurring primarily in the written variety have a touch of formality implied in their semantic structure.
For example, we
can come across items possessing no stylistic value label, but nevertheless
being registered in LDOCE as belonging to the first thousand most frequent
words in written English, such as authority,
determine, development, director, human, identify, indicate, individual,
institution, investment, item, programme, sector, seek, etc.
Most of these words are derived from Latin or French stems and many people associate their use with various fields of human intellective and official activity, such as science, technology, law, business, politics, press, etc.
There are, of course, a large number of "register sensitive" words which are classified as occurring either in the spoken or written variety according to their stylistic character. But it seems worth-while to take a broader perspective of the subject. On the whole, it can be assumed that register features are a universal factor: they cut across the whole of English vocabulary.
The referential meanings of words are derived from reality and depend on how the conceptual space (a given referential area) is divided or covered by lexical items. Besides the referential basis the actual meanings of words as found in utterances reflect relations which hold between lexical items within the communicative space, i.e. the functional differentiation of discourse. Thus, we may consider a range of referential synonyms to choose from in a given situation, but after we have learned more about their style and register features, we realise that there is actually no choice because normally there will be a single form appropriate to a particular use.
This kind of semantic differentiation (with reference to the communicative space) creates new oppositions and structures which are not necessarily discoverable while analysing the referential distinctions between words. For example, purchase and buy can be regarded as synonyms; they are close semantically, although there are referential distinctions of meaning between them: it would sound odd to say "I've just purchased a new dress" (bought would be a natural word in this context) but it would be quite appropriate to say "My company has just purchased a new office building".
We can also point out the functional distinctions between these words which are relevant to the communicative situations. How is the communicative space divided between these two items? There is an endless variety of situations in which people can find themselves talking about buying things in general. Alongside other variants the language provides a choice between buy and purchase. Both of them belong to the same referential area, but each of them covers its own fragment of the communicative space: purchase being associated with formal discourse and buy being regarded as more neutral and likely to be used in informal contexts.
Synonyms which differ in respect of the varieties of discourse in which they appear can be defined as cognitive synonyms [Cruse, ibid., p. 284]. The distinction between such items lies not so much in their inner lexical meaning, but in the sphere of their actual application or usage.
In the analysis of registers it is customary to distinguish "three interacting dimensions of variation: field, mode and style [Cruse, ibid., p.283]
"Field" refers to the subject-matter, the specialised or predominant themes of discourse. We can speak of lexical and grammatical features of such fields of discourse, as the language of law, academic discourse, advertising language, political speeches, etc.
The structure of
discourse in respect to subject-fields will involve the division into general
and specialised vocabulary. The opposition of the two layers of vocabulary
emphasises the difference in the functional roles of words and the range of
their applicability. For example, musical,
comedy pantomime, repertory theatre ,
touring company are recognisable
as relating to the subject-area of theatre;
while record, album, compact disc, band, pop charts identify the field of pop music.
It is quite possible that the same referents will have different names in different special-purpose areas.
In law it is usually written forms which have precedence and weight. This register is about as far removed as possible from informal spontaneous conversation. The words of this kind nearly always seem to add a touch of formality to the language in which they occur, and in this respect, the vocabulary found in legal documents complements a large portion of words, which even though in current use , seem to be highly formal in their effect. Deemed, expire, terminated - are only a few that may be taken as examples. These words are labelled in LDOCE as belonging to the formal register.
The prefixing and suffixing of prepositions is a common feature of formal speech and words like aforesaid, hereby, hereof, hereunder are often used. The use of such words is necessary if precision is to be achieved. The fondness of legal specialists for these words makes them unsuitable for use in other contexts.
The fondness for archaisms in vocabulary and syntax is the main feature of another extreme variety of written language - the language of religion. In this respect, religious and legal English are the only varieties which allow archaisms to such an extent.
Another dimension of register is described by some linguists as mode "which is concerned with the manner of transmission of a linguistic message - whether, for instance, it is written, spoken, telegraphed, or whatever [Cruse, ibid. p.284]. Synonymy is by no means rare here as well.
This medium is normally determined by the social function of communication. In most speech communities there are conventions usually quite clearly established, which determine whether messages should be conveyed orally or in writing, and little choice is possible. If we compare the spoken and the written versions of an interview between a doctor and a patient, we shall see that a written report of the conversational tape-recorded segment is likely to be higher in information load in various ways. The written text is shorter and therefore less redundant because it contains fewer repetitions, relatively more lexical (content) words and fewer grammatical (structural) words.
Although none of the words used in the written version is marked in the dictionary as belonging to the formal register, most of them tend to be used in the written variety of the language. According to LDOCE, for example:
determine - belongs to the first thousand most frequent words in written English;
investigate - is one of the second thousand most frequent words in written English;
guidance - is one of the third thousand most frequent items in written English;
therefore - belongs to the second thousand most frequent items in spoken English, and to the first thousand most frequent words in written English.
Non of the above words appears in the spoken version where we find more colloquial items:
Written: " I determined therefore"
Spoken: "So well have to"
Written: "to investigate the nature of the allergy"
Spoken: " try and do something about the allergy"
Written: "the most general guidance
Spoken: " a general rule to everybody".
The difference between some synonyms can be marked for field as well as for mode.
The newspaper language, for example, makes extensive use of colloquialisms. Being rather expressive they can effectively draw the reader's attention to a headline. A colloquial lexical item introduced in the headline can sometimes be followed by its neutral synonym in the text of the article. The contrast created by this device makes the message more expressive:
"Down to last nuke.
"There had been rather a shortage of foolish remarks by eminent churchmen on public topics of late. Perhaps this pause disturbs some balance of nature. If so, the pro-nuclear bishop elect of Oxford is at hard to restore it".
(The Daily Mail)
The third dimension of variation of synonyms is style. It refers to "language characteristics which mark different relations between the participants in a linguistic exchange [Cruse, ibid., p.284]. The roles of the participants in the conversation, the level of intimacy, the social positions, age - are the factors to be taken into account: "to some extent, this may be regarded as the formal-informal dimension; but, in reality, it is much more complex than this [Cruse, ibid., p.284]. Here we find the greatest variety of cognitive synonyms. The emotional side of the message to be conveyed becomes the speaker's real concern as well as the adequate linguistic expression of attitudes and reactions in a particular context. We have a wide range of lexical items differentiated in respect of the tenor of the utterance. Whether the speaker chooses to sound neutral or even formal in conversation, or , on the contrary, appear to be more relaxed, intimate and friendly finds expression in the vocabulary he uses.
The word thing is definitely marked for register features since it occurs most commonly in spoken informal discourse: "there is one thing you can be sure of", one thing is certain", "because things look bad".
The use of figurative language including metaphors and idioms is also a characteristics of the informal style. Figurative language uses words to convey meanings beyond their literal sense. As a result, it makes some change in the word's meaning or use, and thereby adds colour and vividness to the expression. This kind of lexical items is often found in the newspaper language or the genre of advertising. In advertising colloquial clichés and idioms, such as "in no time", "at all", " you'll be in real trouble "help to convey a technical subject-matter in a colloquial, "chatty" style which seems to reflect the relationship between a sender and a receiver, as viewed by the author of the message.
Again, as we can see, most of these variants are also differentiated according to the field of discourse. The three dimensions of register - field, mode and style - are closely interwoven. The newspaper language, for example, presents a wider range of linguistically distinctive varieties than any other domain of language study.
To sound more emphatic newspaper writers use a lot of distinctive vocabulary. They prefer words that are usually shorter and more emphatic than ordinary English words. Thus, for this register the language offers an opposition of neutral, matter-of-fact, factual items and their more "dramatic" synonyms:
newspaper word - the word's meaning
aid - help
back - support
axe - cut, remove
bid - attempt
blast - explosion
curb - restrain, limit
drama - tense situation
key - essential, vital
The search for a shorter and more expressive word has created a specialised vocabulary which in some newspapers turns every "investigation" into a "probe", every "attempt" into a "bid" and every "disagreement" into a "row".
Another example worth mentioning is deformation of idioms. It presents a universal device typical of newspapers of different social orientations. Deformation of idioms is widely used in various types of materials including sport, politics, economics, literature, etc. It presents a regularly reproduced device aimed at creating expressivity. It is also used to "refresh" commonplace idioms and to enable the journalist to reveal his attitude towards the subject-matter in the most effective way. Thus, for example, we can come across a substitution, such as "to scratch out a living" used instead of "to make a living" (to earn money to live on), as in
"This year american farmers scratch out a living".
(The Daily Mail)
The most widely used devices of deformation type are inserting and substitution of some components of the idiom. A playful use of the famous idiom "between the devil and the deep blue sea" is observed in the following example:
"Mrs. Thatcher now stands between the devil and the deep wet sea".
(The Daily Telegraph)
Idioms proper presenting the basics of the literary metafolklore are also regularly deformed in the English newspapers:
Mr. Heath has another official Solicitor in his cupboard".
(The Morning Star)
The modern "serious" writers: every silver lining is a cloud";
(The Daily Telegraph)
One more
category of lexical items which depend on register features for their meaning
are phrasal verbs [Gorokhova, 1996; Guseva, 1996]. For a long time they were
viewed as something too extravagant and therefore unnecessary for a cultured
speaker, let alone the foreign learner. This conclusion was based on the
following reasons: phrasal verbs are colloquial units, and colloquial English
has to serve a long period of probation before it gets a permanent place in the
language. That is why from a pedagogical point of view it was considered
advisable to replace them with their more neutral synonyms in general discourse
(to give up hope - to abandon hope, to
put off a meeting - to postpone a meeting).
Today the situation is completely different as the general tendencies of the present-day English are towards more idiomatic usage. No one would deny the fact that phrasal verbs - both formal and informal - are indispensable units within language vocabulary which are readily used by people in all walks of life.
The multifunctional nature of phrasal verbs made some researchers believe that they do not have a fixed meaning but bear a potential semantic "nucleus" which is actualised differently in different contexts. To illustrate such "context-bound" phrasal verbs let us adduce an example:
Motoring
In order to drive off you must put the car in gear. When you change down you are in a lower gear. When you drive faster you speed up. When you reduce speed you slow down. When you stop a vehicle you pull it up. You pull out when you move into the traffic or overtake another vehicle. When you reverse a car you back it in. If you vehicle is badly damaged you write it off and then the car is a write off.
These phrasal verbs are used in a particular context function as terms or quasi-terms and being a more laconic means of rendering the respective ideas have supplanted their monolexemic synonyms.
Informal idiomatic expressions like phrasal verbs present a fascinating material for learning how different actions are viewed by speakers, and what those images people resort to are when they want to sound more expressive or produce a certain stylistic effect.
Let us have a look at a set of phrasal verbs based on the metaphoric transformation "peoples emotions - temperature":
cool down/off - become less angry, less enthusiastic:
I had the greatest difficulty in cooling him down;
warm up - to become lively, more interested and enthusiastic:
Once Ted warms up, he is the life and sole of the
company;
boil over - to become
extremely angry so that the situation gets out of control: Sleepy as he was, his temper promptly boiled over again;
boil up - to feel angry suddenly and without any apparent reason:
The feeling of fury boils up in him;
burn up - to make feel angry and upset:
His attitude to the project just burns me up.
Phrasal verbs with an obvious and easily recognisable metaphoric structure never perform as absolutely neutral as they decorate speech with vivid images. This is reflected in the intonational and rhythmical organisation of speech. Metaphoric phrasal verbs are not spoken or read, they are performed by various voice modulations and longish pauses. The speaker always has a number of options and is free to decide what particular word, syntactic pattern or idiomatic expression to choose. And if he prefers a metaphoric phrasal verb to a monolexemic item it means that he intends to convey something more than a mere dichotomous relation between the world and the language and wants to modify these relations by producing a certain effect. One and the same idea can be spelled by a neutral, or monolexemic, pattern or by a metaphoric phrasal verb. It all depends on the overall aspects of speech situation, its physical and social setting.
Conclusion
The interaction of lexical structures and discourse becomes apparent the moment we turn to speech production and actual texts. Style and register features penetrate the semantic scope of words to form significant aspects of the word's meaning. Even frequency of occurrence can be regarded as a semantically relevant parameter if looked upon from the point-of-view of the word's actual realisation in speech.
Most style (or register) variants have semantic (referential) distinctions as well, but they are capable of developing evoked meanings which are immediately connected with a given situation, and, in a way, are created by it. There is a mutual relationship between the lexical items used in a particular register and the register itself being created as the result of a given choice of items. A single informal word used in a conversation may create an intimate atmosphere and contribute to a closer relationship between the speakers. It can be said for that reason that style synonyms possess expressive meanings which change the tenor of discourse.
Lexical structures are not indifferent to the structure of discourse. As we have seen new oppositions of lexical items are being formed on the basis of their interaction with the parameters of a given situation. Some categories of words, such as register-sensitive items, are particularly interesting in that their meanings are to a certain extent made up by the speech-event and the register in which they occur. They actually express aspects of situations which become part of their overall content. That is why such items are so important in covering the dynamic reality and an endless variety of individual purports.
***
Bibliography:
Gak V.G. Sopostavitelnaja Lexicologia. (Contrastive Lexicology). - Moscow, 1977. - p. 9.
Crystal, David. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 2nd Edition. - London: Basil Blackwell, 1985. - p. 291.
Crystal David., op. cit., p. 292.
Crystal David., op. cit., p. 96.
Crystal David., op. cit., p. 96.
Leech Geoffrey. Semantics. - Penguin Books., 1981. - Second edition., p. 86.
Crystal David., op. cit., p. 60.
Crystal David., op. cit., p. 60.
Cruse D.A. Lexical Semantics. - Cambridge University Press,1986. - p.267.
Weldon Fay. Watching me, watching you. - New York, 1981.
Minajeva L.V. A Manual of English Lexicology. - Moscow State University, 1982. - p. 120-121.
Cruse D.A., op. cit., p. 266.
Cruse D.A., op. cit., p. 52.
14. Vinogradov V.V. Stylistics. A Theory of Poetic Speech. Poetics. - Moscow, 1963. - p. 6.
Strevens Peter. New Orientations in the Teaching of English. - Oxford University Press, 1978. - p. 119.
Halliday M.A.K., McIntosh A., Strevens P. The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching. - London, 1966. - p. 87.
English in Use. - Longman, 1990. - p. 126.
Freeborn Dennis. Varieties of English. - Second edition., Macmillan, 1993. - p.76-78; see also Zotov Eduard. Written and spoken forms of English in communication. Graduation paper. - Moscow State University, 1996.
Cruse D.A., op. cit., p. 284.
Cruse D.A., op. cit., p. 283.
Cruse D.A., op., cit., p. 284.
Cruse D.A., op., cit., p. 284.
Cruse D.A., op. cit., p. 284.
For more material see: Gorokhova Anastasia. Newspaper headlines: lexical and stylistic variability. Graduation paper. - Moscow State University, 1996; and Guseva Ekaterina. The Learner's approach to phrasal verbs. Graduation Paper. - Moscow State University, 1996.
DISCUSSION:
Alexander SHVEITSER
Natalya Gvishianis contribution bridges the gap between the traditional studies of vocabulary in terms of lexical structures, based on the analysis of their semantic parameters (polysemy, antonymy, synonymy, etc.), and discourse analysis in terms of registers, functional styles, specialised functions, tenor, social varieties, etc. The focus of Gvishianis paper is on interaction and interplay between structural elements and features.
The paper graphically demonstrates that a multidimensional approach to the study of the lexicon does not rule out a view emphasising close links between paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations. Among other things, the author convincingly proves the existence of organic links between the semantic and stylistic aspects of vocabulary. Style and register features, she points out, penetrate the semantic scope of words to form significant aspects of the words meaning. Even frequency of occurrence can be regarded as a semantically relevant parameter if looked upon from the point of view of the words actual realisation in speech. The author is right in attributing to stylistic synonyms an ability to affect the tenor of discourse.
Numerous examples, collected in the paper, prove beyond any doubt that lexical structures are not indifferent to the structures of discourse.
Far be it from me to call into question the basic propositions if Gvishianis paper that shows the way the structural and discourse aspects of the lexicon complement each other. My comments are merely suggestions of some further possibilities that seem to open up for a multidimensional analysis of the use of vocabulary in discourse and their interaction.
Thus, not only synonyms but any semantically related elements may provide for the so-called isotopic strings of discourse. Cf., for example, the following passage from W.Goldings story, Ambassador Extraordinary:
Men were swarming now over Amphitrite, tearing at her paddle, striking with any heavy gear they could find at the brass monster in the deck. The guard that Posthumus had put aboard her went down in a whirl of limbs. Smoke rose suddenly from her hold and uncoiled. Naked figures were hurling themselves from her bulwarks while a thin flame, hooded and flickering like a ghost, shot up amidships. The second warship saw the danger and backed water. Oars smashed against the quay but her way was checked. A third ship, emerging from the heat haze, crashed into the second with her ram. More oars smashed. More oars smashed, the both ships were locked and drifting helplessly down on Amphitrite. Posthumus, screaming curses, leapt into the imperial barge.
The first string is represented by verbs of destruction: tear (at), strike, smash, crash (into) and the second by a series of verbs and verb phrases of motion: swarm, go down in a whirl of limbs, shoot up, rise, hurl oneself, back water, leap (into).
That is the way the communicative effect of the text is achieved - a sense of dynamics of the episode, of rapidly unfolding events and, at the same time, of chaos and destruction. The intertwining of these two isotopic planes produces a two-dimensional picture of the battle scene.
Another example of close interaction of semantic and discourse structures is the strategy of discourse. As is known, the choice of linguistic resources, most appropriate to the conditions and goals of communicative events is one of the central problems of stylistics. On the level of discourse, the strategy of choice is usually associated with the optimal form of its organisation including the sequence of its elements. As regards the latter, N.Enkvist singles out three types of discourse strategy: 1) OIF (Old Information First); 2) CIF (Crucial Information First) and 3) CIO (Crucial Information Only).
CIF may be illustrated by the sequence of elements in a newspaper lead (the leading paragraph of a news item). The lead usually unfolds from the principal to secondary elements of an utterance. The latter begins, as a rule, with elements describing the Main Event, followed by Place and Time. The pattern of the message may be reduced to the following formula: M=EPT where M is the message, P is the place and T is time. Let us consider the following examples:
A group of newspapers, broadcasting and television organizations have successfully opposed an application for reporting restrictions to be imposed in two lengthy criminal trials arising out of the Guinness takeover of Distillers which is due to begin at Southwark Crowns Court on Monday (The Daily Telegraph).
Russell Bishop, 23, an unemployed labourer of Lewes Road, Brighton, was charged last night with attacking a seven-year-old girl at Devils Dyke on the Sussex Downs on Sunday (ibid.).
South Africas Democratic Party is reappraising its role as the voice of the liberal opposition in white politics given the changes undertaken by President Frederik W. de Klerk in his speech in Parliament last week (The International Herald Tribune).
All the above leads are characterised by similar endings referring to the place and time of the event (at Southwark Crowns Court on Monday, at Devils Dyke on the Sussex Downs on Sunday, to Parliament last week).
They do not necessarily refer, however, to the Main Event. Thus, in the first example they refer to an action, expressed by the predicate of an attributive clause (due to begin). In the second, to a gerund (attacking), part of a prepositional object, and in the third, to an attributive participial phrase (undertaken //).
The two above-mentioned applications of a combined (lexicosemantic and text-linguistic) approach to discourse analysis indicate some further possibilities of broadening the range of traditional lexicology along the lines suggested in N.Gvishianis paper, and demonstrate the advantages of a multidisciplinary approach to linguistic data.
IDIOMS IN LEXICON AND DISCOURSE
Ludmila CHINENOVA
Abstract: In spite of the fact that structurally
idioms are polylexemic compositions and have a formal identity with the
syntactic pattern of a free combination of words, semantically they have long
been viewed as indivisible units of meaning. However, the recent research has
proved that speakers have their intuitions about the semantic analysability of
idioms which play an important role in determining their syntactic productivity
and lexical flexibility. The actual usage of idioms in speech is not
conditioned by arbitrary rules which are a matter of convention but are often
motivated by peoples understanding of the conceptual structures underlying
idioms. In contemporary linguistics this kind of idiom usage is variously
designated as nonce variation, deliberate transformation, occasional use
or deformation and is usually regarded as something made for the nonce, as a
linguostylistic device aimed at enhancing the expressivity of speech. From this
point of view idioms present a threefold unity of the semantic, structural and
functional invariants being in the state of uneven balance with one of them
playing the leading role.
Idioms have always been a pain in the neck for linguists trying to account for everyday language behaviour when it is used in its basic function - a means of communication. According to the traditional theory of idiomaticity idioms are seen as dead metaphors - the end point of the process of idiomatisation, by which word combinations first establish themselves through constant reuse, then undergo figurative extension and finally petrify(1). The metaphoric nature of an idiom accounts for its idiomaticity which is understood as the unpredictability of the meaning of the whole from the literal meanings of the constituent parts. The common assumption, then, is that in spite of the fact that structurally idioms are polylexemic compositions and have a formal identity with the syntactic pattern of a free combination of words, semantically they are isolated and present one unit of meaning which is roughly equivalent to simple literal paraphrases: to cut a long story short - briefly, to spill the beans - to reveal a secret, to kick the bucket - to die, cool as a cucumber - controlled, soft soap - flattery, etc.
Another very important feature of an idiom is its syntactic stability which is demonstrated by a specially designed set of syntagmatic and paradigmatic tests aimed at specifying the restrictions in the syntactic behaviour of idioms as opposed to non idiomatic word sequences. For example, substitution test is called upon to show the impossibility of replacing a component of an idiom by another word without destroying its idiomatic meaning unless it is the case of normal accepted variation: cf. to spill the beans - to spill the peas*, to change/ swap horses in mid-stream. There are other tests which are meant to show that adding of new components, the elimination of the necessary ones or the change of their order within an idiomatic phrase are impossible and may result in an ordinary syntactic structure.
Restrictions to
syntagmatic changes go hand in hand with paradigmatic limitations, i.e. the
transformational deficiency of idioms which block the use of idiom constituents
as normal, regular lexical units. Thus, the transformational deficiency of an
idiom may consist in blocking passive transformation (to ride a/ones hobby-horse - a/ones hobby-horse is ridden*, to pull
ones weight - ones weight is pulled*) or blocking nominalization
transformation (to play a waiting game -
a playing of a waiting game*, to kick the bucket - His kicking (of) the bucket
was quite unexpected*).
However, it has always been felt, especially by Russian linguists, that the contradiction between the semantic integrity of the whole and formal independence of its parts, which is the basic characteristic of all idioms, can not but influence their discourse peculiarities. Smirnitsky A.I. pointed out that although the structural separability of the constituents of an idiom is purely formal and they can not be regarded as words of full value there is every reason to believe that they remain potential words (2). The word-like property of an idiom component can be proved by the fact that it can break out of an idiom and be used as a word in its own right in the meaning which is derived, as it were, from the idiomatic meaning of the parent idiom. The use of the word moon in the following contexts may serve as an illustration of the process:
And yet there was the moon and he could not
forget how Fleur had always wanted it. A desire to have what she hadnt yet got
was her leading characteristic (J. Galsworthy, Swan Song).
- But if you want to have or to know anything particular, Fleur, Id like to be told. - Only the moon, my dear (J. Galsworthy, Swan Song).
It is quite obvious that in the given examples moon does not denote one of the celestial bodies. Its new meaning - something that is difficult or impossible to obtain and therefore highly desirable - goes back to the idiom to cry for the moon, in which the component moon is apprehended as the semantically leading (concept) word containing the essential part of the meaning of the idiom .
In the example that follows the meaning of the word windmill have also been derived from the idiom to tilt at windmills - to fight imaginary or unimportant enemies or wrongs believing them to be real or important ones - which originated from Cervantess story about Don Quixote who attacked windmills believing them to be giants:
Surrounded, as he believed himself to be, by enemies
of all kinds, Ambrose found it exhilarating from time to time to trumpet his
defiance. The first number of the Tower somewhat believed the serenity and
seclusion which it claimed for Ambrose had a blow for every possible windmill
(E.Waugh Put Out More Flags).
In the examples adduced above the parental idioms which have given rise to the new meanings of the words moon and windmill are not present. They are referred to indirectly through the context. The idioms are believed to be very well-known to all speakers of English who can easily establish the necessary links between them which eventually ensures the proper apprehension of the text.
Discourse realizations of the idiom a/the skeleton in the cupboard (the American variant - a/the skeleton in the closet) also show how the linguistic convention may give a new semantically independent status to a former component of an idiom. The majority of contemporary uses of this idiom are the result of the restructuring of its components deliberately made by the user of the language:
Michael, it will be seen, had remained quite ignorant
of the skeleton in Soames cupboard (J.Galsworthy, Swan Song).
It was the skeleton in his house and the family walked by it in terror and silence (W.Thackeray, Vanity Fair).
These examples clearly demonstrate that speakers manipulate the components of the idiom skeleton and cupboard rather than the phrase itself arranging them at their will within a sentence in different ways with the words skeleton and cupboard standing out as the key words which constitute the idiomatic meaning of the idiom. Skeleton is used to refer to the idea of something of which somebody is ashamed and which is kept secret, while cupboard is a metaphoric reference to the possible place the secret is being kept. The fact that the word cupboard in the last example is replaced by the word house which, broadly speaking, might be regarded as its metaphoric synonym does not hamper the understanding of the meaning implied.
Interestingly,
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English which records the contemporary
English usage most adequately registers the new figurative meaning of the word
skeleton among its other meanings and illustrates it by the following
sentence: Its time to bring the
family skeleton out of the cupboard. In Longman Dictionary of English
Idioms a/the family skeleton is registered as a variant form of a/the
skeleton in the cupboard and as the typical example of the use of the latter a
sentence in which the components of the idiom are reshuffled is given: I learned yesterday that their eldest son
has been twice sent to prison, I wonder how many other skeletons theyve got
in their cupboard. Oxford Advanced Learners Encyclopedic Dictionary
presents the definition of the idiom which differs from the one found in
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. It is no longer defined as a
shameful family secret but rather any secret which would embarrass somebody if
it became known. Characteristically, it is exemplified by the phrase which is
a reworking of the idiom: bribery of
officials and other skeletons in the governmental cupboard.
Recent
linguistic and psycholinguistic research in the field has experimentally proved
that speakers have their intuitions about the semantic analysability of idioms
which play an important role in determining their syntactic productivity and
lexical flexibility. The use of idioms is not conditioned by arbitrary rules
which are a matter of convention but are often directly motivated by peoples
understanding of the conceptual structures underlying idioms. Speakers are
claimed to be aware of the fact that spill the beans is semantically
analysable because beans is processed by the speaker as an idea or secret
and spill - as the act of revealing the secret. The compositional character
of metaphoric structure of idioms play an important role in the process of
decoding and encoding (listening and speaking) activities as well as the
speakers judgement of the appropriate and effective contextual realisations.
It is the peoples awareness of the systematic contribution idiomatic
components as individual lexemes make to the overall figurative interpretation
of idioms that determines, in actual fact, their discourse variability,
productivity and effective use.(3)
Data that have been discussed above also show that it is the speakers ability to perform the compositional analysis of the meaning of the idiom strings that makes such uses of the idiom possible. In the following example the word skeleton is obviously not used in its medical sense. What the speaker means is some facts of the famous English romantic poet P.B.Shelleys private life which professor of English literature at Oxford University, the main character of A.Wilsons short story The Wrong Set, is not inclined to make public:
Oh! I dont think Im denying the importance of the biographical element in literary appreciation. I know very well how much a full knowledge of a writers life /.../ adds to the interpretation of his work. But Im more and more disinclined to expose skeletons that have been so carefully buried. (A.Wilson, The Wrong Set).
Being the products of the linguistic activity of the speech community in question the given contextual realisations of the idiom may be regarded as its variant uses because all of them retain the basic concept word skeleton which conveys the idiomatic meaning of the whole phrase and serves as a reference to it making the adequate processing of the context possible.
The same holds for many English idioms which have two or more concept words in their structure and whose inner form, or metaphoric foundation, is fairly transparent. For example:
to kill two
birds with one stone
A patient language method, like a patient medicine
claims to prevent or to cure all possible ills (linguistic or physical, as the
case may be) by repeated application of one special device or drug; both of
them claim to kill innumerable birds with one stone.
We have occasion to note that the principle suggests
the inadvisability of killing too many birds with one stone. The
principle goes farther and to the figure of speech just quoted adds the two
following corollaries, viz.: Find the right stone to kill the right bird,
and It is often advisable to kill one bird with more than one stone.
There are many different ways of teaching a different sound, there are many
ways of teaching a difficult point in grammar, a curious form or construction,
or of causing the student to discriminate two things which ought not to be
confused (H.Palmer, The Principles of Language Study).
a square peg in a round hole
Poor little snipe - a square peg in a round hole
wherever he might be; and all those other pegs - thousands upon
thousands, that would never fit in (J.Galsworthy, The Silver Spoon).
Sometimes, lately, Ive begun to doubt whether we
shall ever find a proper place for Basil. Hes been a square peg in so many
round holes (E.Waugh, Put out More Flags).
to keep ones nose to the grindstone
If we want you, I suppose we can always find you
here. - Always, - said Mr. Bently sweetly. - I often whimsically refer to
this little table as my grindstone. I keep my nose to it
(E.Waugh, Put out More Flags).
If I didnt keep Jerry sweet Irish nose right down
to the grindstone hed be running around with some other girl (F.Hurst,
Appasionata).
like looking/searching for a needle in a haystack
/.../ Oh well, thats like looking for needles in
haystacks... Well, who has a life to spend detecting that kind of needle
in that kind of haystack? (Paul Scott, The Jewel in the Crown).
to skate on thin ice
David took an inward breath and skated hastily over
thin ice; explaining about Beth, her sharing his studio at home /.../
(J.Fowles, The Ebony Tower).
I think in real relationships people are rude to each other. They know its safe, theyre not walking on ice (J.Fowles, The Enigma).
to pull
ones leg
Youre trying to pull the old leg again.
Whoever heard of a party in a captive balloon? (E.Waugh, Vile Bodies).
Pull the other leg next
time, will you. I should hate to have one longer than the other (W.S.Maugham,
The Circle).
If you go on pulling my leg so persistently I
shall be permanently deformed (W.S.Maugham, The Constant Wife).
If I had the occasion during the past few minutes to pull
the Honourable Gentlemans leg, and to pull his partys leg somewhat harder,
this, if I may say so, is because both legs deserved to be pulled
somewhat (Parliamentary Debates, 1976).
to know which side ones bread is buttered
The vicar of Lyme at that time was a comparatively
emancipated man theologically, but he also knew very well on which side his
pastoral bread was buttered (J.Fowles, The French Lieutenants Woman).
Watton knows which side his bread is buttered.
- What extraordinary expressions we do use. Its hard to imagine that any man
have failed to know which side his piece of bread is buttered
(A.Wilson, As if by Magic).
make a
mountain out of a molehill
You are making a frightening mountain out of an
absurd little molehill. - Of course, but the mountain Im making in my
imagination is so frightening that Id rather try to forget both it and the
repulsive little molehill that gave it birth (T.Rattigan , The Browning
Version).
With one bound he had leaped from the tradition of his
class and type, which was to see molehills as mountains and mountains
themselves as mere menacing blur on the horizon: and now, even the
mountains had come closer and revealed that easy and well trodden paths led
to their heights; even, it seemed, to their glittering snow-crowned summits
(J.Wain, Hurry on Down).
to have a
finger in the/every pie
If Celtic ever had a finger in the pie, it
must have been immediately on the taking over of the new language (O.Jespersen,
Language, Its Nature. Development and Origin).
I had felt the brush take life in my hand that
afternoon; I had had my finger in the great succulent pie of creation. I
was a man of the Renaissance that evening - of Brownings renaissance (E.Waugh,
Brideshead Revisited).
The devil speed him, no mans pie is
freed
From his ambitious finger / / (W.Shakespeare,
Henry VIII).
put all
ones eggs in/into one basket
Ive put a lot of money, a damned lot of money for me,
into this last floatation. It is sound, isnt it?... It must seem odd my asking
you like this, but Ive never put so many eggs into one basket
(Gr.Green, England Made me).
Well, go ahead if you want to. But youll get all your
thanks in one basket from the good-for-nothing crowd that hangs out here
(A.Cronin, Keys).
take the
guilt off the gingerbread
/.../ From what Margot tells me the last war was
absolute heaven. Alastair wants to go for a soldier. - Conscription has
rather taken the gilt off that particular gingerbread, said Basil.
Besides, this aint going to be a soldiers war (E.Waugh, Put out More
Flags).
Good bye, I said, feeling a little puzzled. Some
of the gilt had already been taken off the gingerbread. Why should she
panic when mother came into the room? It was as if she hadnt wanted it to be
known that she was going out with me (J.Brain, Room at the Top).
Well, Sir, were not much to speak of out here after a
year and a half. I consider theres too much gilt on the gingerbread as
regards Australia (J.Galsworthy, The Silver Spoon).
In contemporary linguistics this kind of idiom usage is variously designated as nonce variation (A.Cowie), deliberate transformation (R.Glaser), occasional use - (..), deformation - ( .., ..), etc. and is usually regarded as something made for the nonce, as a linguostylistic device aimed at enhancing the expressivity of speech. At the same time, it is enough to throw a cursory glance at the variety of contextual realisations of idioms to see that nonce-variation is a much more pervasive phenomenon than it is believed to be. Variation of this kind is so widespread that lexicographers, as we have seen, register it in dictionaries or simply admit the existence of such possibilities by giving the restructured variants of an idiom as an illustration of its use. However, we still know very little about its mechanics, what types of idioms tend to be inclined to such variation, whether it is systematic or random and what factors, linguistic and extralinguistic, are involved in this process.
Variation of idioms has traditionally been approached statically and regarded as part of the problem same/different. The range of possible changes in the structure and lexical components of the idiom has been tested from the point of view of the semantic changes, or its desintegration, they may lead to. Dictionaries of idioms provide ample evidence of normal, institutionalised variation which is always characteristically limited. The static view of idioms stems from the fact that for a very long time linguists have been primarily concerned with the semantic and syntactic properties of idioms as part of the lexicon neglecting the dynamic aspect of the problem, i.e. the functional-communicative peculiarities idioms demonstrate in various discourse situations.
In contrast with words idioms are much more involved in the dynamic processes of language development and tend to vary to a much greater extent beyond the limits set by the accepted institutionalised variation. The distinctive properties of their semantics which are characterised by what linguists describe now as semantic defusion enable the speaker to extend the idiom to as many situations as its metaphoric power permits.(4)
Demonstrating the adaptable quality of the semantics of an idiom C.Fernando shows how the idiom to keep ones fingers crossed could be stretched to different situations ranging from the emotional to the political and cultural ones wherever it is appropriate to hope for the best:
- I was glad to get over that bit.
- So was I - I was keeping my fingers crossed.
(Crossing a shaky bridge)
As you say we have had enough and more of sad
happenings and we are now keeping our fingers crossed about what will or
may happen in the country in the near future. (Unpredictable political
situation)
How we wished she was his to cherish always and look
after. She was excited he could tell, about the evening ahead, and mentally crossed
his fingers that all would go well. (dinner date)
The last vote for the Senate came in from Pretoria.
At least I hope its the last, Mr. Lay said, with his fingers crossed.
All cultural fingers are crossed and the ball is in Pekings court. (Comment on Chinese concert
tour).
The specific nature of the contextual realisation of the idiom is rendered by encoding in it a particular modifier such as cultural fingers or mentally crossed his fingers.(5)
Variation being the totality of dynamic states of an idiom can be better understood if approached from the topological point of view, i.e. in terms of invariant/ variation which R.Jacobson believed to be the key problem of contemporary linguistics.
The linguistic term invariant refers to the general properties of a particular unit as part of the abstract system of the language opposed to particular, the numerous allo-realisations characteristic of the unit and on the basis of which the invariant concept is being formed.
The term topology was first used by R.Jacobson (6) with reference to the fact of language as a result of his keen interest in the problems of the invariant / variation relationship. This concept was further extended and applied for the study of all kinds of language levels from phonology to linguostylistics. Polubitchenko L.V. uses the term philological topology when studying the problem of ontology of literary texts, modes of their existence and interconnections. (7)
As far as idioms are concerned the invariant idea of an idiom presents a threefold unity of the semantic, structural and functional invariants being in the state of uneven balance with one of them playing the leading role. To illustrate it let us take the idiom to be born with a silver spoon in ones mouth - to be lucky to be born to a rich family - and try to trace its development in the English language in order to find out how the speakers invariant idea of it has been changing in the course of time. The idiom was first registered by dictionaries in the middle of the 18th century and coexisted for some time with its variant to be born with a silver penny in ones mouth. By the end of the 18th century the variant with the component spoon ousted the one with penny and acquired the form it has now. In the 19th century refashioned variants of the idiom were recorded, as for the contemporary contextual realisations of the idiom the majority are the deliberate experiments with the structure of the idiom while the concept words the silver spoon are invariably retained:
You were born with a silver spoon in one hand and a
silver fork in the other (Th. Haliburton, Sam Slicks Wise Laws and Modern
Instances, or What He Said, Did or Invented).
I always knew from Willamss merry mouth he was
born with a silver spoon in it (C.C.Dumort, Life Sketches from Common
Paths).
Yet on the whole the silver spoon stayed in his
mouth without spoiling it /.../(J.Galsworthy, In Chancery).
The young man in the photograph had been given from
birth the necessary background for charm. Its astounding how often golden
hearts and silver spoons in the mouth go together ( J.Brain, Room at the
Top).
The same processes are characteristic of the speech manifestations of the sentence idiom every cloud has a silver lining which has gone a long way of development from a quotation (it goes back to J.Milton) until its semantic, structural and functional invariants took shape. The examples that follow show that in spite of the fact that the structure of the idiom is broken they can be brought together due to the line of thinking they all share. Silver lining is analysed by the speaker as something good while cloud is a metaphoric reference to some possible problem or trouble:
I dont say they arent silver linings in their
limited way, but take a look at the cloud that lower elsewhere
(P.G.Wodehouse, The Mating Season).
There was a silver lining even to this
little sordid cloud (R.Aldington, The Colonels Daughter).
This kind of deliberate restructuring of the idiom in question, extremely popular and wide-spread in English now, demonstrates that the structural invariant of the idioms which conditions their framework has become less firm and admits the reshuffling of the components. However, variation of this kind is possible only provided that the speaker makes use of the concept words of the idiom referring to its invariant meaning which has not altered.
For some idioms variation presupposes an entire replacement of the components with its structural pattern remaining the same. Phrases girls will be girls, students will be students follow the structural model characteristic of the original idiom (boys will be boys) which makes it possible to relate them to it.
The numerous contextual realisations of the sentence idiom one mans meat is another mans poison show how the phrase could be adapted to express the speakers meaning: one mans rubbish is another mans treasure, one mans superstition is another mans religion, one womans ideal husband is another womans pain in the neck, etc. All these variants are made up in accordance with the structure of the idiom which is not altered regardless the fact that some additional components are embedded in it. As for the content of these phrases they all, as Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English states, contain the same comment on the variability of human judgement or taste. According to the same dictionary the favourable and unfavourable nouns may be reversed.
It should be noted that the changes of the structural invariant of an idiom is often accompanied by a certain shift in its functional orientation which in contrast with that of the original one in contemporary English may imply a humorous or facetious use.
This is particularly the case with idioms which go back to the Bible or some other well-known literary sources or eminent poets and writers. Such idioms as to gird up ones loins, as a lamb to the slaughter, a fly in the ointment, an eye for an eye (and a tooth for a tooth), to remove the scales from someones eyes (the Bible), be hoist with ones own petard, to the manner born (W. Shakespeare), beard the lion in his den (Sir Walter Scott), a white mans burden (R. Kipling) are more often than not used in contexts intended to be amusing.
Besides the language factors which make this kind of uses possible for a certain type of idioms the spread of variation of this type can be explained by a number of extralinguistic factors. We have already mentioned that idioms are often referred to as dead or petrified metaphors. In contrast with the individual metaphor created by the speaker for a particular situation idioms are lexicalised metaphors. The stereotyped characteristic of dead metaphors which have lost their metaphoricity in the course of time is the reason why many educated speakers of English regard them as clichs - banal, hackneyed phrases to be either avoided or refashioned. This attitude towards many idioms in the English language especially the ones which enter into the core of the idiomatic stock and are often referred to as dead English determines the linguocultural pattern of their use and is one of the extralinguistic reasons of the pervasiveness of variation of idiom clichs as well as proverbs.
To sum up: the features that idioms reveal in contextual realisations are the result of the variability of the semantic, structural and functional invariants which are historically conditioned.
***
Bibliography:
Cowie A.P., Mackin R., McCaig I.R. Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English. Vol. 2. Phrase, Clause and Sentence Idioms. - London, Oxford University Press, 1983.
.. . - ., 1959, . 115-118.
3. Nandini P. Nayak and Raymond W. Gibbs J.R. Conceptual Knowledge in the Interpretation of Idioms. // Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1990. - Vol. 119, No 3, pp. 315-330.
.. . - ., 1996, . 9.
Fernando C. Towards a definition of idiom. Its nature and function // Studies in Language. 2.3, 1978.
Jacobson R. Selected Writings. Vol.2 - The Hague, Paris, Mouton, 1971.
.. â àíãëèéñêîé êëàññè÷åñêîé ïîýçèè. - ., , 1988.
Folia Anglistica. 1997, No.2 Language: Structure and
Variation
:
Abstract: The article describes one of the philological imperatives which forms the basis of the adequate understanding of texts - the vertical context of a text. The term context, was often used very loosely by various linguistic and literary critical schools. However, there is an aspect of a text of fiction, so far very broadly covered by the term context, which requires that the term in question should be narrowed: the truly philological understanding of a text usually goes over and above the mere analysis of immediate linguistic surrounding that an element of a text is used in. There is always a certain kind of information, which is not directly expressed in words or phrases, but is given, as it were, at the background of a text. Scholars have long tried to work out a certain approach which would lead to understanding of the vertical context of a text. Among the taxonomies which appear to be a kind of milestones in the perception of vertical context are quotations and literary allusions. The author discloses the semiotic role these elements play in texts. The article also gives numerous examples from well-known works of fiction to clarify and show the difference between such well-known terms as the background knowledge, socio-historical and philological contexts and shows that the true philological understanding of texts rests on the indissoluble unity of the two mentioned here types of contexts.
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His practice was to draw the attention of his students to three French writers who in his opinion combined the qualities that are the mainsprings of the French character. They are <...> and finally Corneille with his panache. This is translated in the dictionaries as the plume, the plume the knight of arms wore on his helmet, but metaphorically it seems to signify dignity and bravado, display and heroism, vainglory and pride.
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stare, gaze stare to look at something or someone for a long time without moving your eyes: stop staring out of the window and do some work! Stare and gaze both mean look for a long time; stare suggests a slightly hostile look, gaze often implies certain admiration.gaze to look at someone or something for a long time, giving it all your attention often without realizing you are doing so: Patrick was gazing into the fire.
trouble,
worry
trouble if a problem troubles you, it makes you feel worried worry be anxious or unhappy about something so that you think about it a lotworry is more colloquial than trouble which is more literary. cf. It worries me that you are always without your hat. I was troubled by the insolent way in which he treated her. It worries me = it makes me anxious It troubles me = it upsets me.
show,
manifest
show to provide facts or information that makes it clear that something is true or that something exists; let your feelings, attitudes be clearly seen. manifest to show a feeling attitude, etc.show = allow to be seen manifest = show clearly
placid,
serene
placid a placid person or animal does not easily get angry or excited serene
someone who is serene is very calm and relaxedserene is a nice word.
Serene people are calm people who give you a feeling of peace when you are with
them. Placidity is serenity of the not very intelligent.
mercy, pity
mercy kindness, pity and willingness to forgive, which you show towards someone you have power over pity sympathy for someone who is suffering and unhappymercy feeling sorry for somebody so that you forgive, you are kind and make some concessions pity feel sorry and do nothing
just, fair
just morally right and fair: A medal of honour was his just reward. I think it was a just punishment bearing in mind the seriousness of the crime. fair a situation, system or way of treating people that is fair seems reasonable and acceptable: a fair wage for the job; Who said life was fair? Everyone should have the right to a fair trial. just = according to the law; the law can be just but it is very often unfair fair is more personal and more irrational
gift, present
gift something that you give someone on a special occasion or to thank them: the earrings were a gift from my aunt present something you give someone on a special occasion or to thank for somethinggift tends to be bigger; something that is given us in a general sense (Births column in the Times: the gift of a daughter) present is a much more limited word
grateful,
thankful
grateful feeling that you want to thank someone because of something kind they have done: Dr Cameron has received hundreds of letters from grateful patients. thankful grateful and glad about something that has happened , especially because without it the situation would be much worse: Ill be thankful for a good nights sleep after the week Ive had. grateful implies gratitude for something somebody has done: I am thankful that my mother is better. I am grateful to the doctor for his efforts. thankful not particularly to any person: be thankful to God; I was thankful that it didnt rain.
abrupt,
sudden
abrupt sudden and unexpected: an abrupt change of plan sudden happening, coming or done quickly and unexpectedly: I keep having sudden bouts of dizziness.abrupt sudden in a rather bad way: she stopped abruptly (it would imply that there was something wrong) sudden unexpected: it has a very sudden ending (about a play).
appear, look,
seem
appear seem: Roger appeared very upset; The city appeared calm after the previous nights fighting. look seem to be something especially by having a particular appearance seem to appear to be a particular thing or to have a particular quality, feeling or attitude: She didnt seem very sure. He seemed pretty angry to me.so it looks, so it appears are about equal in frequency of use and mean apparently, on the face of it. She looked wonderfully well sounds more objective. She seemed well, no one could guess she was recovering from a serious operation (a little element of doubt). She appeared very well (implies a certain degree of standing back, remoteness, lack of direct knowledge, when one is not personally involved).
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He had his usual luck. Fancy these few kind words of his to this idiotic hen of a woman being so richly repaid. Oh, well - cast your bread upon the waters.
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Comme tojours, la chance était avec lui. Il navait pas perdu son temps en disant à cette imbecile de femme quelques mots gentils! Ce qui lui arrivait, il lavait dailleurs mérite.
cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many
days (Ecclesiastes 11.1) - cast ones bread upon the waters -
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And I wouldnt know for six or seven years, probably, whether that decision was right or wrong. You cast your bread upon the waters and hoped it would float back in the future with butter and jam.
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The older writers, like Hazlitt and Lamb, would mark time, as it were, and introduce their quotation (not always accurate) with a flourish. There was no doubt about, even if the reader did not know its source. But the fashion today is to introduce the quotation obliquely, to twist it to fit the content, to give it a kind of ad hoc figurative meaning, even to pun upon it. At its best it can be witty and effective; but when the writer overdoes it, plays havoc with his quotation it becomes a tedious and irritating trick. The reader is invited to spot the quotations, and relate each (if possible) to its context. There is no suggestion here that this literary device is to be condemned. Its rather dubious association with the pun has already been hinted at; and it has in extra measure the disadvantage of all quotations, that it tends to argue a certain superiority on the part of the writer [Vallins, 1968].
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What the English are good at is not so much quotation as misquotation. Thus, Wellington did not say Up guards and at `em; Milton did not say Fresh fields and pastures new; Congreve did not say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned; Acton did not say all power corrupts. What we carry around in our heads is a vast jumble of half-remembered lines which our minds simply elide to the shape that suits them best [Smith, 1984].
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Ruskin warned us to be sure to go to an author to get at his meaning, not to find ours, but the warning was only necessary because a book is a meeting place of two minds sharing, on the whole, the same culture. In his solitary encounter with the text the reader contributes as much to literature as the writer. As the Swiss say, A good spectator also creates. Literature is not something a writer gives to a reader but rather the element in which both swim [Pickett, 1986].
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Miss Sparling, this is most distressing, but I fear we shall have to put the party off till the following week. - You havent tried Saturday, - said Miss Holly. - Miss Holly always sets us right, said Miss Sparling, making Mrs Belton think of Miss Trotwood and Mr Dick. - Saturday then, if it suits you.
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The boy said, Name, please? Poirot gave it to him, a door on the right of the hall was thrown open and he stepped into the waiting-room. It was a room furnished in quiet good taste and, to Hercule Poirot, indescribably gloomy. On the polished (reproduction) Sheraton table were carefully arranged papers and periodicals. The (reproduction) Hepplewhite sideboard held two Sheffield plated candlesticks and an epergne. The mantlepiece held a bronze clock and two bronze vases. The windows were shrouded by curtains of blue velvet. The chairs were upholstered in a Jacobean design of red birds and flowers.
:
Votre nom, monsieur, sil vous plaît? Poirot le lui donna et passa dans le salon dattente, une pièce meublée avec goût, mais qui lui parut dune infinie tristesse, avec ses rideaux de velours bleu, ses meubles en imitation dancien et ses fauteuils sur la tapisserie desquels des oiseauz rouges voletaient parmi les fleurs.
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A social class can perhaps be rather cumbersomely described as a group of people with certain common traits: descent, education, accent, similarity of occupation, wealth, moral attitudes, friends, hobbies, accommodation; and with generally similar ideas and forms of behaviour, who meet each other on equal terms and regard themselves as belonging to one group [Cooper, 1989].
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God bless my soul! Tut, tut, tut! Shocking! Shocking! No doubt, a case of these road bandits. Better say nothing to your aunt and cousin. Dear me, how very unpleasant! Murder at our very gates! I do not know what the world is coming to.
- Good gracious, not here, I trust?
- No, on the Pittingly Road. Someones been murdered. Uncle thinks probably by bandits.
- Dear me! So mediaeval. On the Pittingly Road too. Such an impossible place to choose.
- You mustnt allow it to worry you.
- No my dear, why should I? Very unpleasant, though. I hope we havent got a gang of desperate criminals near us.
- Beastly, isnt it? What I mean to say is - one moment the fellow is murmuring Will you take hock, sir? and the next hes been bumped off. Bad business, what? Of course, I know these little contretemps are everyday matters to you brainy johnies at the bar. Still - not nice, you know. Definitely a bad show.
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One must exaggerate. Wildly. Little things mean a lot in Sloane. The dinner party is fabulous, brilliant , riveting, the most. The fridge breaking down is ghastly, a major disaster, I dont believe it, God has struck.
Conversely, one can amuse by understating really major things. And one must be stiff-upper-lip. Ive got this stupid arm means broken in three places. Disaster and tragedy, wholesale mutilations are boring, a motorway crash is a spot of bother on the way, war is a little local difficulty [Parr, York, 1982].
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Thus squires should be swindled in long rooms, panalled with oak; while Jews, on the other hand, should find themselves unexpectedly penniless among the lights and screens of the cafe Riche. Thus, in England, if I wished to relieve a dean of his riches, I wished to frame him, if I make myself clear, in the green lawns and grey towers of some cathedral town. Similarly, in France, when I had got money out of a rich and wicked peasant (which is almost impossible) it gratified me to get his indignant head relieved against a grey line of clipped poplars and those solemn plains of Gaul over which broods the mighty spirit of Millet.
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riches: The care of this world and the deceitfulness of
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***
:
.. . ., 1966. . 206-207.
.., ..
. , 1977, 3. . 47-54.
.. - . .,
1981. . 23-36.
.. . ., 1980. . 13.
.. , .
.
.. . . ., 1947. . 14.
Vallins G.H. Better English. Pan Books Ltd. London, 1968, pp. 177-8.
Smith, Godfrey.
The English Companion. London, 1984.
pp. 198-9.
, 1913, 6.
Pickett, Douglas. English Today, 1986, 5. p. 40.
Cooper, J. Class. Corgi Books, 1989, p.12.
Parr, Ann & York, Peter The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook. London, 1982, p. 14.
Folia Anglistica. 1997, No.2 Language: Structure and
Variation
DISCUSSION:
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We all use some sort of skincare - be it a swift scrub with soap and water or some of the more sophisticated age-defying day creams (Liz Earle New Natural Beauty).
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LITERARY ALLUSION IN VLADIMIR NABOKOV'S ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN TEXT OF LOLITA
Liliya BOLDYREVA
Abstract: Literary allusion in V.Nobokov's Lolita
has been studied by many scholars in different terms. In the present article
literary allusion is seen as an element of the authors vertical context. The
article deals with the question of how far literary allusions are translatable
and to what extent Nabokov's Russian translation is an act of speaking to
oneself.
Many people believe that Vladimir Nabokov is the most brilliant English prose writer, though he himself, apologizing for his second-rate brand of English [V.Nabokov, 1959], kept saying that his command of Russian prose was superior. In the enormous corpus of literary critical works on his writings it is often mentioned that the lucidity and euphony of his English are not matched in his Russian and that the contrast between his crystalline English and his conglobate Russian is striking [Carl R. Proffer, 1968].
Without supporting or rejecting any claims for the superiority of English or Russian in his background and literary achievement let us concern ourselves with a comparative study of his translated works. In this respect Nabokovs prose proves invaluable for the investigation of the roots, nature and mechanisms of bilingualism in a writer of such magnitude. How does a multilingual mentality approach translation, essentially a passage from one of its first languages to another? Are we justified in speaking of the surrounding presence or pressure [G.Steiner, 1976] of the Russian language and his Russian identity when dealing with Nabokovs English prose? To what extent is the frontier between the two languages discernible in his mind? Can the excellent quality of his translations of his own works be accounted for by the fact that translation in his case is largely an inward-directed process, an act of speaking to oneself? A comparative study of Nabokovs works, Lolita in our case, in the original and translation from the point of view of vertical context may help reveal an answer.
The novel, a first person narration, was completed by Nabokov in 1954 and immediately rejected by four American publishers as a pornographic work. In defence of the novel Nabokov writes that the term pornography in modern times is justly identified with mediocrity, commercialism and rigid rules of narration. The novel must consist of sexual scenes. Style, structure, imagery should never distract the reader from his tepid lust [V.Nabokov, 1959]. Lolita undoubtedly belongs to a different kind, though it may have no moral in it. As Nabokov puts it: For me a work of fiction exists only in so far as it affords me what I shall bluntly call aesthetic bliss /.../ [V.Nabokov, 1959].
Partly because of this literary credo, partly because of a mixture of cultures, the interaction of his familiar worlds - Russian, British, German, French, wherever he lives and whatever language he writes he always remains in a class by himself: his style, however idiomatic his language may be, is unmistakably personal, exquisitely shaped, strikingly original.
No surprise that, as is well known, Nabokov turned to the translation of his own works because he was thoroughly dissatisfied with the existing translations. In 13 years, from 1959 to 1972, Nabokov brought out English versions of all his Russian novels. In 1967 he published a Russian translation of Lolita, a fairly close translation, so was the Gift and the Defence. Before that in 1955 in Problems of Translation Nabokov first formulated a definition of literal translation. In his Foreword to Eugene Onegin he writes that literal translation presupposes adherence not only to the direct meaning of a word or sentence, but to its implied meaning, and defines translation as a semantically exact interpretation, and not necessarily a lexical or constructional one.
* * *
Few other writers set such an excessive valuation on their readers intellect, erudition and memory and require more of them than Nabokov. The reader is supposed to be a researcher and must keep all kinds of dictionaries, encyclopaedias, guides and various other sources of linguistic and extralinguistic information handy, to be able to understand or, to be more exact, decipher at least half of his meaning. It is for this reason and in this sense that Nabokovs writings may be described as vertical throughout.
Leaving aside all other, no less important, elements or signs of vertical context as a subject for larger publications, let us concentrate on the analysis of literary allusion with a particular emphasis on the rendition of its different types into Russian. As has been rightly assumed, literary allusion in Nabokovs works is an artistic device either performing some informative function or in quite a few cases occurring merely for fun, to mislead, provoke, puzzle the audience. Very often it should be analysed not only within a particular context but also within the bounds of the whole novel or even a number of his works.
The text under discussion alludes mostly to the French and the English literature. As has been shown by scholars, the list of authors quoted and alluded to in Lolita comprises over 60 names. There seems to be many more, as in full accordance with his aesthetic principles, Nabokov would take liberties with them, distorting, mutilating, changing their phonetic form and shifting semantic accents. However, it is not always that Nabokov bothers to conceal a literary allusion, sometimes he challenges the readers erudition quite openly, even suggesting a multiple choice of possible keys. In a great number of cases allusions have no direct relevance to characters or situations in Lolita - they seem to be there, as has already been said, for nothing but fun. There are, on the other hand, allusions which do not only display the characters and the authors wit, background and tastes, but are also meant to evoke certain associations and convey information which is important for understanding the characters and the plot of the narration.
Let us concentrate on those literary allusions which can be classified by the type of language play employed in their formation. The point is that these allusions seem to present the greatest difficulty for someone who is off to translate from an author who takes pleasure in testing his audiences erudition, hampering its understanding in every possible way, making his readers decode his message, which is sometimes of great importance for the understanding of the novel and the authors intention. Thus, according to the pattern of formation the allusions selected for analysis within the bounds of the present article can be roughly divided into the following groups:
Allusions based on deformed parts of quotations.
Allusions within an allusive context.
Allusions based on word play.
Allusions with phonetic substitutions.
Paraphrase.
Allusions causing double associations.
Allusion-based scenes.
* * *
Let us now illustrate the above-mentioned patterns of the authors allusion play both in the English and Russian texts of Lolita.
After losing Lolita to the playwright Quilty, Humbert begins his mad and futile cryptogrammic paper chase in search of clues to her abductors identity. Quilty proves worthy of the office of Humberts more successful opponent and enemy as he challenges the scholarship of both the reader and Humbert at every step. Luckily, Humbert often helps his readers decode the literary messages.
The first example illustrates the first pattern and reads as follows:
/.../ and one hardly had to be a Coleridgian to appreciate the trite poke of A.Person, Porlock, England (p.244).
In the Russian translation we come across the following:
/.../ ,
: ".., , " (.336).
A much less known fact as compared to its Russian counterpart, lies in the basis of the English allusion A.Person, Porlock, England. This is probably the reason why Nabokov found it important to introduce a direct reference to Coleridge, so to speak, not to fall short of the readers expectation to appreciate the triteness of what follows. According to Lawrence Hanson, the author of The Life of S.T.Coleridge - The Early Years, Coleridge said that when he was writing down his dream-vision of Kubla Khan he was interrupted by a person on business from Porlock and detained by him above one hour, after which he could not recollect the details of his vision and ceased writing [L.Hanson, 1939].
For the Russian reader Nabokov chooses a cinematographic allusion to " ". The film is a contemporary realia to the modern reader, a sign of its time (American Odessa, Texas, is not on the sea, though). Thus, it may be concluded that the Russian text does not retain the English allusion though its Russian counterpart deviates from the allusion-forming pattern not so much in the way it was formed (a person - A.Person / - ..) as in the source of reference.
In the following example illustrating the second allusion-forming pattern the Russian translation renders only a part of the English allusion which presents a reference to both a poet and a line from his poem. In the original we read one of Quiltys signatures:
Horribly cruel, forsooth, was Will Brown, Dolores, Colo (p.245).
The allusion seems to cover not only the name of Robert Browning in a distorted form but also a line from his Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, the fourth stanza of which begins:
Saint, forsooth! While brown Dolores
Squats outside the Convent bank
With Sanchicha, telling stories
Steeping tresses in the tank...
The Russian translation of Quiltys signature preserving the poets name can scarcely cause any associations with his poem:
:" ,
, " (.337).
Nabokov apparently expects his reader to be not only well-read in a few European languages, but to possess an inquisitive mind and unequalled memory. Thus, the reader may be supposed to remember the same Robert Brownings poem parodied in the preceding chapter (22) by Humbert composing his own verses:
I tottered back to my bed, and lay as quiet as a saint -
Saint, forsooth! While brown Dolores,
On a patch of sunny green
With Sanchicha reading stories
In a movie magazine (p.239).
In the text of the Russian translation Nabokov mentions the name of Robert Browning to make his parody understandable for the Russian reader:
/.../ , , -
- -
? ! ,
, ,
- (.330).
seems to be a transliteration of the English forsooth (old use: indeed, certainly). In the Russian text saint can be referred to a man, to Humbert himself with a greater degree of certainty than in the English original. is of male gender and is also suggested by the context: . The ironical colouring of the utterance in Russian becomes still more obvious due to the change of punctuation marks. In English - a comma after saint and an exclamation mark after forsooth while in Russian - a question mark after and an exclamation mark after , which makes Humberts doubts about his own peace of mind and chastity of dreams in Lolitas absence (she was taken to hospital at that time) still more apparent.
Another example illustrating the same allusion-forming pattern (allusion within an allusive context) also contains the name of a poet and some words from his poem. Describing his meeting with Rita, Humbert writes:
I picked her up /.../ between Toylestown and Blake, at a darkishly burning bar under the sign of the Tigermoth /.../ (p.252).
In On a Book Entitled Lolita Nabokov mentions the sources of the geographical realia used in the novel. He writes that every summer his wife and he went butterfly hunting to such places as Afton, Wyoming, Portal, Arizona and others. Hence, probably, the name of the bar - the Tigermoth.
The Russian translation renders the allusion to W.Blake and The Tiger in the following way:
/.../ , /.../ (.344)
In the Russian text the allusion is obvious from the name of the town and the adjective and supported by the words and . Blakes tiger, however, dwells in the forests of the night which may well be the jungle, but are not called so in his poem. Moreover, Blakes tiger is burning bright in the forests of the night which constrasts with Nabokovs both darkishly burning and . It is here that the Russian translation may, probably, have some advantage over the English text. The point is that though both adjectives darkish and are considered to be reminiscent of Lolita, for brown is the colour most often associated with Humbert's beloved (both Lolita and Annabel), the word-combination () immediately strikes the eye as rather unusual, consisting of incompatible units. is commonly referred to a person having brown(ish) or black skin or hair. Thus, the reader is led to believe that there is more to it than just a dim light coming from the bar.
Nabokov can be called a master of anagram. There could be found some examples of almost complete phonetic coincidence of his English and Russian anagram-based allusions, such as, for instance:
/.../ my quarry /.../ was an old friend of the family, maybe an old flame of Charlottes, maybe a redresser of wrongs (Donald Quix, Sierra, Nev.) (p.245).
In Russian we read:
-
, , , , , ,
(.337).
On the other hand, there are some examples of substitution in the translation of anagrams:
But the most penetrating bodkin was the anagram-tailed entry in the register of Chestnut Lodge Ted Hunter, Cane, N.H. (p.245).
Not only is the allusion in the Russian text anagram-based, what is more important it preserves the meaning of the English original:
( 1947 , !) /.../ . , ,
(.337).
The anagram-tail is from The Enchanted Hunters ( ), the hotel whose name reccurs in various forms throughout the novel. This is the most penetrating bodkin indeed, because it suggests not only that Humberts successful rival knew all about The Enchanted Hunters, but also that he stayed there at the time Humbert and Lolita did.
There also could be found several examples of a very successful substitution in the translation of allusions based on word play:
Or was he a real person who just happened to write a hand similar to N.S.Aristoff, Catagela, N.Y.. What was the sting in Catagela? And what about James Mavor Morell, Hoaxton, England?
Aristophanes,
hoax, - fine, but what was I missing? (pp.244-245).
- -
.. ?
, ?
: , , ?
픔, - , ? (.336-337).
Catagela is the punningly comic name of a non-existent city in Aristophanes Archarnians. The name is derived from the Greek verb to sneer, to smirk. This is probably the sting Humbert does not feel. James Mavor Morell is one of the characters of Candida by George Bernard Shaw, and Hoxton is one of the towns where the play is set. There is, however, a play on words in Nabokovs text: Hoxton is changed into Hoaxton which suggests a trick, esp. one that makes someone believe something which is not true, and take action upon that belief. Hoaxton - hoax (n) are translated by Nabokov as - . The association with Hoxton as a town in G.B.Shaws play is thus completely lost in the Russian text.
However brilliant and unsurpassed Nabokovs own translations may be, we have to admit that there are certain cases in which he had to sacrifice stylistic, aesthetic or both aspects for the sake of conveying information, sense. Thus, for instance, in the final scene - the scene of the murder - Quilty who takes Humbert for an extortioner puns:
I have not much in the bank right now, but I propose to borrow - you know, as the Bard said, with that cold in his head, to borrow, and to borrow and to borrow.(p.293).
Quilty parodies the content of the tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow speech in Macbeth. The allusion is built exclusively on sound similarity with a change of only one sound which immediately strips it of any semantic link with the literary source of the allusion.
In the Russian translation we read:
/.../ - , , , , . (.388)
As one can notice the Russian text has nothing to do with Macbeths famous speech. It reminds the Russian reader of Pushkins Eugene Onegin: /.../.
Thus, again in the translation we deal with substitution. One has to admit that though the Russian allusion pertains to a different allusion-forming pattern it also appears to be semantically justified in the given context. Yet the refreshing effect of sound play is no longer there.
However accurate and stylistically adequate Nobokovs translations may be, the loss of its sound-form by a word within an allusive context deprives the Russian text of the tiniest resemblance to the literary source of the allusion. That is exactly what happened to Humberts ecstatic description of his first night alone with Lolita which has been proved to be a paraphrase of a passage from the Nickspub scene of Finnegans Wake:
Then she crept into my waiting arms, radiant, relaxed, caressing me with her tender, mysterious, impure, indifferent, twilight eyes /.../ (p.111)
The passage is based on partial sound, lexical and stylistic similarity with Joyces text. Some words, such as arms, radiant, relaxed, eyes are present in Nabokovs text; the sound-cauls of Joyces creepkissed, impurring are partially changed, their roots, however, are still easy to identify; attendring in attendring arms, a French word in an English form, is replaced with its English equivalent waiting.
Nabokovs Russian text reads as follows:
, , , , , , , /.../ (.202)
It turns out ,that the allusion to Joyce is completely lost in the Russian translation whereas in the English text it can be identified by means of particular words, roots and forms which are preserved there either unchanged or slightly modified.
In Lolita there could be found a great many literary allusions causing double associations. The context of the source in this case proves to be important. In the example adduced below the interesting thing is how the Latin line is first rendered into English and then translated into Russian.
As Humbert and Lolita are being pursued by an unknown car, Humbert notes:
We were many times weaker than his splendid lacquered machine, so that I did not ever attempt to outspeed him. O lente currite noctis equi! O softly run, nightmares! (p.215)
Humbert puns noctis equi (horses of the night) into nightmares, using a line which has double associations. In Christopher Marlowes The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus the clock strikes eleven and Faustus has only one hour left before perpetual damnation. He implores the moving spheres of heaven to stand still that he may repent. Humbert obviously sees his pursuer as a devil. The Latin line originally, however, comes from Ovids Loves I, XIII, 40. Aurora is fleeing from her husband, who is old and ugly. The poet beseeches Aurora not to come, for the lovers will have to part:
But if you held in your arms the form of the mortal you wanted,
Then you would cry, Run slowly, slowly, horses of the night!
Is it my fault as a lover, if yours is old and disgusting?
Is it my fault you married this tiresome old man ?
(Ovid, The Art of Love, trans. by R.Humphries)
Ovids context seems to be more appropriate than Marlowes stressing the authors ironical attitude to Humbert-Lolitas relations. In the Russian translation we have:
E lente currite; noctis equi!
, !(.303)
Nightmares in the English text in contrast with in the translation, is non-figurative. The transition from noctis equi to nightmares in the original seems likely to highlight its reference to Humbert, his dreams and anxiety rather than the immediate association, as in the case of noctis equi and , with the car of Lolitas abductor.
There are a lot more other quotations and allusions in foreign languages, mostly in French. The Russian translation usually retains the French lines. In the following example Humbert describes his second visit to Briceland (home of The Enchanted Hunters) with Rita:
A curious urge to relive my stay there with Lolita had got hold of me... I now attempted to fall back on old settings in order to save what could still be saved in the way of souvenir, souvenir, que me veux-tu? Autumn was ringing in the air.(p.254)
As the reader is often made to consider the role of cyclicality in Humbert-Nabokovs life (a sequence of recurring acts, events, characters, situations etc) and is never free from the feeling of deja vu, his parodies and allusions tend to revert to some dominant theme or themes of the narration. Thus, an allusion to a particular source may not be clearly expressed in the text, it may be concealed within another allusion or cause associations with some other sources and in the great majority of cases has to be disentombed or disentangled by a curious reader or more likely the scholar. Thus, we often find ourselves involved in a very sophisticated game which may be said to appeal more to our mind than feelings. Nevertheless, the result of our research is usually rewarding if we are prepared to regard it as only one more bead on a string of allusions which will enable us to recreate, comprehend and appreciate a certain pattern as a whole.
The case in point is the example cited above. It would not be very difficult to establish the source of the French line as it is a direct quotation from P.Verlaines Poemes Saturiens, among which there are two poems entitled in English Nevermore. The one begins:
Souvenir, souvenir, que me veux-tu? L'automne
Faisait voler la grive a travers l'air atone.
The poets lover in Verlaines verses asks him suddenly about the happiest day of his life. He associates that moment with her first yes (Le premier oui qui sort de levres bien-aimees!). Humbert in the novel also associates the Enchanted Hunters with Lolitas first yes.
If we, however, try to read more into the lines we will probably find that not only the title but also the mood of both Verlaines poem and Nabokovs passage are reminiscent of Poes The Raven. As has been proved by the scholars, Humbert alludes to Edgar Allan Poes poems Annabel Lee, Lenore and The Raven more often than to any other writer or their works. The theme of a young womans death and the theme of the memory retaining the happy moments of the past are common to all three of the Poe poems. Humbert recalls Verlaines poem, thinking of his irrecoverable loss. Nevermore indeed. The overcautious reader is puzzled: is there an anticipation of death?
In the Russian translation we read as follows:
... : souvenir, souvenir, que me veux-tu? , . (.347)
Thus, we see that Nabokov retains the French line, but finds it necessary to mention Verlaine for his Russian readers.
In his Russian translation he adds the epithet to autumn, which undoubtedly agrees with ringing in the air but does not correspond to the French lair atone (still, motionless air).
Besides a great number of literary allusion-based names of characters in Lolita, there are certain name - echoes which allude to and introduce whole scenes from the works of some other writers. At the beginning of Chapter 14, Part II, for instance, we learn that Humbert allowed Lolita to take piano lessons with a Miss Emperor (as we French scholars may conveniently call her) (pp. 198 - 199). A little later Miss Emperor would ring Humbert up informing him that Lolita had missed two classes. It will turn out, eventually, that the girl had been with her new lover, Clare Quilty.
The whole episode parallels one in the life of Gustave Flauberts Madame Bovary (Chapter 5, Part III). Instead of taking piano lessons Emma becomes more and more involved in a love affair with Leon. The name of her teacher is Mlle. Lempereur.
In his translation Nabokov as usual tries to provide the Russian reader with more clues to his allusions. He calls Miss Emperor a, as if inadvertently mistakes Lolita for Emma in one of the sentences and instead of the phrase as we French scholars may conveniently call her gives a more distinct hint: , , (. 286).
* * *
To conclude, in the text of Nabokovs translation a lot of literary allusions undergo various transformations, additions and modifications. However skilfully the devices of compensation and substitution are applied by the author, there is no getting away from the fact that as a result there occur a number of modifications and distortions of the informative or stylistic, or both, aspects of the original, in some cases even not without detriment to its aesthetic impact.
There can be little doubt that deliberate replacements and additions are accounted for by the change of the addressee. Nabokovs Russian reader may not be expected to be as well read in English poetry, for instance, as the author himself. Without denying the contextual relevance and aesthetic value of the allusions occurring in Nabokovs Russian text of Lolita, it should be noted that a part of the picture of the world, a particular stretch of reality as seen through the prism of literary allusions - those borrowed strings of images which have passed the test of time and are considered to be the least liable to change - proves to be different in different languages even if the translation is done by a bilingual and a recognised master of style.
***
Bibliography:
Nabokov V. On a Book Entitled Lolita.// Lolita. - Lnd.:Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1959. - p.307.
Proffer Carl R., Keys to Lolita. - Bloomington.: Indiana University Press, 1968, - p.81.
Steiner G., After Babel. Aspects of Language and Translation.- N.Y. Lnd: Oxford University Press, 1976. - p.119.
Nabokov V., On a Book Entitled Lolita. // Lolita. - Lnd.: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1959. - p.303.
Ibid.,p.305.
Hanson L., The Life of S.T.Coleridge - The Early Years. - N.Y., 1939. - p.260
Folia Anglistica. 1997, No.2 Language: Structure and
Variation
DISCUSSION:
Natalya SOLOVYOVA. Thinking Two Cultures
Lolita is a challenge in many respects: boldly conceived and boldly written, it remains a challenge when it comes to literary criticism, for we are talking of two texts, or should we say, two books written by one author and addressed to different national audiences. Published in the late fifties in the USA and Europe it was translated by Nabokov into Russian that bears a trace of the elegant vivacity of the language spoken by our great grandfathers at the beginning of the century, which for the author remains a sort of museum tongue, which captures another level of thinking, another mentality not approved of in his native country. Lolita raises many questions typical of the 20th century literature and contributes to the culture of bilingualism (Oscar Wilde and Samuel Becket, Peter Ustinov and Vladimir Nabokov), with language the focus and the main hero of the novel (James Joyce).
Lolita in both versions invites discussion in terms of intertextuality, literary tradition, understanding and interpretation. In each country it evokes reminiscences, the diversity of which is based on the unlikeness of their respective national sources, for are not Lawrence and Sologub a world apart? Written upon the authors arrival to the USA after many years in Europe, Lolita became crucial to the transformation of his world view: an inevitable result of his breaking off all links with the Russian culture. The English text was the first to appear and was meant for the Western reader more knowledgeable in modern literature and culture. Lolita is an American girl, the novel is set in the US, the language is adapted to express common values and shared ideas of the Americans. It is not for nothing that the early memories start with E.A.Poe, although the whole novel is pregnant with love for the one Lolita addressed and appealed to in an affectionate collection of different names.
Annabel Lee is a symbolic figure; one of the best poems by Poe inspired by his great passion for his fourteen-year-old wife Virginia. For Nabokov the affinity of their fates (Virginia and Annabel died at an early age) is a manifestation of fate, significant for his own career and life, associated with a rift in his life caused by his departure from Europe, his parting from its traditions and culture and entering the new space where he, like Dickensian heroes, tried to find the regained paradise. Essayistic in his emotional causes Nabokov presents a novel in the process of its creation: his recollections unfold backwards, turning the wrong rights and lefts, he teases his reader with shocking promises, false emotions and absolutely honest, sincere and open-hearted declarations.
I leaf again and again through these miserable memories, and keep asking myself, was it then, in the glitter of that remote summer, that the rift of my life began; or was my excessive desire for that child only the first evidence of an inherent singularity. When I try to analyse my own cravings, motives, actions and so forth, I surrender to a sort of retrospective imagination which feeds the analytic faculty with boundless alternatives and which causes each visualized route to fork and refork without the end in the maddenningly complex prospect of my past. I am convinced, however, that in a certain magic and fateful way Lolita began with Annabel (Ch. 4).
The Russian narrative is characterised by a certain simplification of details and their adjustment to the foreign background. Thus, in English a schoolmate of Dolores Irving is named Flashman which is more suggestive to the Russian reader who is more acutely aware of anti-Semitism associated with estrangement among youngsters.
Naturally, both versions of Lolita have their own special characteristics, determined by the difference of culture and language. In this connection intertextuality within the bounds of a particular culture is of great value and importance. The main character has many faces, is sometimes split into different personalities, and his name is qualified with adjectives to describe his motivation and intentions. He can be Gumbert Humble, Humbert the Humber, Humbert le Bel, Brave Humbert. The split makes it easier to transform the narrator into the hero and shows the metamorphoses he undergoes in various situations.
Nabokov is a writer of European reputation and his love for Lolita can be interpreted as a desperate attempt to come back to the juvenile, innocent, pure love as it was known at the dawn of civilisation. Literary allusions cover the whole of human history starting with the Bible (Eve and Adam before the fall) and ancient mythology (a Satyr opposite a Nymph), through Dante and Beatrice, Laura and Petrarca; but all these pages seem to be thrown away by an intellectual exhausted by culture and the white mans burden. Humbert like any maniac is a very well organised person who could be placed into the recognisable model of Flauberts novel. The more he is opposed to the mediocrity the more he dissolves and diffuses in it. The beautiful decor of the love scenes and the tenderness for Lolita are rudely orchestrated by the indecent voices and noises in the motels. Lolitas misbehaviour, her lie are similar to those of Madam Bovary, the black mischief is becoming absolutely horrible as the love was designed for a complete failure and tragedy. Emma and Lolita take music lessons that are the pretext for their dishonesty, the seduction scene is accompanied by the mess and indecent background of the hotel. Naturally comes the comparison of Lolita to Carmen whereby Humbert points out the cruelty of their relationship and the similar motives of the betrayal.
These allusions seem to appear at the moments of despair, when Humbert irretrievably loses Lolita while his European intellectual background subconsciously strives for beauty and love. Literary allusions occur as the love-affair develops and reaches its crisis, and some of their fragments are similar to those in Merimes Carmen though interwoven with contemporary mediocrity of American life embodied in Lolita, her mind, her simplicity and vulgarity. Lolitas prototype heroines prove the impossibility of love by escaping from society and exhausting themselves with endless roads and travels.
Jose Lizzarabengoa, as you remember, planned to take his Carmen to the Etas Unis. I conjured up a Central American tennis competition in which Dolores Haza and various Californian schoolgirl champions would dazzlingly participate. Good will tours on that smiling level eliminate the distinction between passport and sport. Why did I hope we would be happy abroad? A change of environment is the traditional fallacy upon which doomed loves, and lungs, rely. (Ch. 22)
The allusions taken out of the European context and placed into a foreign and alien texture change their character and influence the original ones. Thus, for instance, Lolita - Carmen episodes are enriched with mockery and parody, consider the pastiche toreador who pursues the father and the step-daughter disguised as a cop in Red Yak. On their way he changes the cars. But this mixture of the artificial and the original is sometimes caused by hallucinations of the poor disillusioned failure Humbert Humbert who leads a double life that stimulates his fictional behaviour. In the episode of the tragic discovery we see the two national identities at the cross-roads:
Poor Bluebeard. Those brutal brothers. Est-ce tu ne maimes plus, ma Carmen? She never did. At the moment I knew my love was as hopeless as ever - and I also knew the two girls were conspirators, plotting in Basque, or Zemfirian, against my hopeless love. (Ch. 22)
European (Carmen) and Russian (Zemfira) versions of betrayal in love are implanted into the American soil and harsh irony is softened by the real figure of modern Romeo, roly-poly Romeo (for you were rather lardy, you know, Rom, despite all that snow and Joy Juice) (Ch. 22).
The intruder turned out to be the mean dramatist, whom modern Romeo finally kills. Here again two literary allusions clash: Carmen and Raskolnikov: for it is absolutely illogical to kill Quilty instead of Lolitas husband. The death is purely symbolic: it is the end of the affair, Humbert accepts his surrender, and his meeting with Lolita is a desperate attempt to start over although he knows for certain that it is impossible.
The narrative proceeds on several levels the main body of the novel being comprised of a manuscript, a memoir, a journal recording dreams and visions but not reality. Reality is a disaster, a catastrophe that absorbs the delicate and fragile world of the feelings and thoughts of a lonely and doomed to death-in-life intellectual. Nabokov was working on Eugene Onegin while writing Lolita, which explains the Russian influence obvious in some of the closing episodes. The final conversation with Lolita reminds even in details of the finale of Pushkins novel. For many Russians to think, feel, suffer and understand is one and the same thing and entering his old house scene is one of the notable psychological set pieces enrooted in the Russian tradition. Nabokov does not give the title of Turgenevs story (it is obviously Three Encounters). Cynical laughter and mockery cut the flood of sentimental feelings short as E.Waugh comes in, the very name of the episode Ramsdale Revisited being a reminiscence of Brideshead Revisited. Nabokov was thus saying good-bye to his Russian background that still haunted him claiming room within his new identity.
According to V.Ptitchett // in turning to English he has struggled to attain a personal style and part of its attraction - outside of some obscurities - is in his brilliant contrasting of cliche English and its comic-shabby overtones, with true images of his own. It is the singular ability of the author to combine two identities, to think two cultures that hides the enigma of his originality.
COGNITIVE SYLLABICS
Svetlana DECHEVA
Abstract: This paper deals with a new branch of
philology which studies the way English syllabification is used for
multifarious purposes. It is called cognitive syllabics because its aim is to
go very deeply into the nature of the subject and to see what lies behind the
ability of people to bring out syllables in the flow of speech - who, why and
when divides speech into syllables and how it meets the requirements of the
speaker with his or her special intention or inclination, individuallity and
social background.
Cognitive syllabics as a new branch of English philology
Syllabics is a branch of philology which studies the way words are divided into syllables for multifarious purposes. The term cognitive implies that our aim is to see how English syllabification actually works and meets the requirements of different speakers with their social background preferences and predilections.
This approach to syllable division has got nothing (or very little) to do with the well-established traditional methods of studying syllabification in speech, when the paradoxes and incongruities of syllabic borders are described and analysed from different angles relying on the use of modern machinery and experimental data. What we rely on is the human ear, the background knowledge of things, the global vertical context within which people syllabify their utterances. It is a certain world view which becomes absolutely vital and cannot be dispensed with.
In other words, what cognitive syllabics deals with is simply who, when and for what purposes divides speech into syllables; what lies behind the ability of people to bring out syllables in the flow of speech. We come from the premise that when it is a question of semaseological systems, of communication by means of natural human languages, there is always something which people have to pass on to each other; there is a certain purport and nothing is ever done aimlessly just as an exercise in phonetics and grammar. English syllabification in this respect is not an exception. It does not hang in the air so to speak. Being a living thing it can be made special use of only within the framework of human utterances (words and phrases) which in their turn form the outer cauls of thoughts and reminiscences.
Teaching syllabics to foreign anglicists.
It should be noted in this connection that teaching phonetics and introducing syllabics into our university curriculum we are doing it primarily as foreign anglicists, teachers of English (and especially English philology) who by definition, as it were, are supposed to master communication at the highest imaginable level - intellective communication in the proper sense of the word [Gimson, 1989]. It presupposes our ability to discuss whatever topical issues of human life (history, art, education, politics, etc.) our competent audience may find interesting and worthwhile in the most efficient and effective way. It requires special knowledge on the part of the speaker ethical and aesthetic aspects of speech intercourse also being included and studied specially.
Otherwise stated, we believe that the so-called cognitive approach to linguistics in general and to English phonetics in particular owes much of its scientific validity and importance to those small and seemingly insignificant linguistic particulars which form the core of communication proper. Among them syllabification comes first, because English, insofar as its syllabic capacities or the readiness with which it lends itself to syllabifying processes is concerned, is certainly in a class by itself. Practically every syllable irrespective of its inherent characteristics can be brought out to the utmost or, on the contrary, become phonetically degraded all at the speakers own will.
The syllable : the Roman god of doorways and the step child.
To this we have to add that the English syllable occupies a very special place in linguistic hierarchy. It appears to be Janus-faced : like the Roman god of doorways it faces in two directions at once - as a component itself with respect to higher levels, and as a whole with respect to lower ones [Lass, 1991]. It is both structural and communicative, acoustic and articulatory, phonetic and phonological, segmental and suprasegmental. It is in-between semantics and diacritics and it serves to bridge the gap between whatever layers or levels which exist in the language. Strangely enough, the literature on syllabification being enormous, the syllable is rather unpopular both with the learner and the teacher of the English language. So far it has actually been treated as the step child of phonetic curriculum [Bolinger, 1975]. But however uncomfortable people may feel about its structural instability, they can hardly deny its communicative value. It doesn't require a very close examination to see that whatever intentional changes (or prosodic modifications) can be made in speech, it is always the syllable that they are most reliably based upon. It is the syllable (not a separate phoneme) which is most naturally isolated in the flow of speech, and it is high time that syllabification should find its allotted place within the wide range of phonetic particulars which serve as the indispensable foundation of our communicative proficiency.
It should be pointed out in this connection that nowadays, when practically all aspects of modern linguistics are being overhauled and re-examined from the functional-communicative point of view, it is only natural that the general approach to the sound form of the language should also be drastically reconsidered. Introducing cognitive syllabics into our classes brings a lot of positive changes into the teaching of English phonetics at the university, raising it to an incomparably higher and more sophisticated level than before, and optimising the process of language acquisition at large. Students and teachers do not any longer concentrate on separate phonemes (or the semiological relevance of speech sounds) but try and master the most significant, starting points of speech production in English.
The bases of cognitive syllabics
There are three fundamental issues which form the groundwork of cognitive syllabics. Among them the concept of the target comes first. We insist on being particularly selective insofar as different English materials are concerned, assessing and adapting them to our professional needs and always trying to see what lessons we can derive from the speeches of the most experienced orators and public speakers of today [Decheva, 1997].
Next comes the kind of voice which we are supposed to produce to make our speech intelligible and pleasant to listen to. The following parameters of voice seem to be absolutely crucial: loudness, tempo, pitch-movement, rhythm and timbre. Whatever we have to say we must always be keenly aware of the degree of loudness with which we speak (trying to make our speech audible enough for everybody to follow), of the speed of our enunciation (slowing it down or increasing it in a way which will suit our intention and will not contradict the syntactic-stylistic arrangement of our speech). We must make sure that we manage to change our voice skilfuly within the confines of the Descending scale, that syllabification and rhythm of our speech meet the requirements of English stress-timing. Last but by no means least, we must learn to organise our speech in terms of timbral modifications which are also absolutely vital - they make our speech sound human and lively, not dry or machine-like [Decheva, 1994].
Third comes the English articulation basis, i.e. the specific position of the main organs of speech in the English language. Although it has been discussed time and again by many scholars both in this country and abroad, some of its most essential points still remain obscure and have to be further explained and clarified. The fact is that some of the original, properly formulated principles and ideas were so often mechanically repeated and were mummified to such an extent that people stopped treating them as the "indispensable foundation," trying to understand how they are actually applied. As a result the whole thing has been considerably displaced and misused.
[Thus, for example, many people think that the English articulation basis fully depends on the position of the tongue and the lips - the tongue must be flattened and broadened and drawn back from the teeth, whereas the lips have to be stretched and kept in a neutral position. This, however, most of the time leads us nowhere. If we allow ourselves to remain on the surface of things without paying any attention to what is happening behind at the back of our speech chamber, we will never be able to get at a staunch position, and all our attempts at learning to speak standard literary English will be doomed to failure.
[We have now become absolutely convinced that the centre of our attention should be transferred to the glottis, because this is the mainstay of the English articulation basis. Only by learning to manipulate it we may hope to make real progress and attain more or less tangible results in the acquisition of literary English. In contrast with the Russian language where the tongue and the lips are ostensibly active, English speech as a whole is relegated to the glottis and everything centres around sounds [A: ] and [O: ].
[It follows that whenever we set up and start out at our small phonetic classes to teach people to pronounce sounds and tunes of English correctly we simply can't but be fully aware of the basic articulatory tendencies of at least two languages - the target language and the source language, the British English modern standard pronunciation habits and the basic articulatory features of Russian (,!Ltxtdf^ 19951).
The concept of the phonetic outlook.
This brings us to the concept of 'the phonetic outlook ' ( !ajytnbxtcrjt vbhjcjpthwfybt1) introduced and specified by Prof. Boyanus some seventy years ago (, !<jzyec^19261). When cognitive linguistics in general and cognitive phonetics in particular are paving their way to teaching practice, the enormous significance of the concept in question can hardly be overestimated. By phonetic outlook Boyanus meant some deeply-rooted pronunciation and perception habits typical of different speech communities. These habits are extremely influential and unless the learner's eye and ear are trained and tuned specially whatever he is capable of producing and perceiving in a foreign language will always be contaminated by the peculiarities of his native language hearing and speaking.
[This means that teaching phonetics both to English and Russian learners will be totally useless, let alone impossible, unless we are supplied with some special background knowledge of all the phonetic antecedents. Pronunciation cannot be acquired through trial and error, and merely hearing authentic materials, however interesting and well-chosen they may be, does not necessarily result in phonetic proficiency. It requires a much more comprehensive explanation and analysis, and cognitive methodology with its emphasis on knowledge and understanding is a great help in this respect (Anderson-Hsie1990).
The highlights of English phonetics and phonology.
It follows that from the very start our task is to try and highlight all those aspects, facets and tendencies which make for the peculiarities of typically English phonetics and phonology. Anthropophonically and acoustically they are particularly difficult for the Russian learner because they require complete and immediate reorientation of both our speech production and speech perception mechanisms. Thus, for example, vowels [i: ] and [I ], [u: ] and [u ] should be taught side by side with sounds [O: ] and [O ], because it is the intensity of their pronunciation ( not length or shortness of these sounds ) which really matters here. It is the activity of the glottis and the relative immobility of the lips which our students' attention should be drawn to and made a special point of, because in Russian these things are not semiologically relevant.
[As far as consonants are concerned, the basic opposition in English is strength vs.weakness of articulation. In other words, in contrast with Russian the main distinction lies between fortis (strong) and lenis (weak) not between voiced ()!~pdjyrbt` 1and voiceless ()!~uke[bt` 1 consonants. That is why it is again a very special treatment of the glottis and the ability to check our vocal chords which have to be taught and laid special stress on while explaining to our students, for example, the fundamental difference between strong and weak English plosives - p, t, k and b, d, g. The former are pronounced with a strong puff of breath and a great deal of muscular energy, whereas the latter require relatively less effort the onset of phonation being slightly held or delayed here.
[There is nothing new about this distinction. What is new is the most essential, principal part these phonetic particulars begin to play when studied in terms of cognitive syllabics. Not only do they make for the peculiarities of 'closed' or 'checked' syllables in the English language, but also help to understand some underlying processes of English syllabification at large the way different syllables are brought out ( prolonged or intensified ) to suit the speaker's intention and produce a desirable impact. Thus for example:
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favourd rage...
" [This piece from "Henry V" by W.Shakespeare is, no doubt, one of the best examples of rhetoric. It is extremely demonstrative because it is in poetry, of course, that all the peculiarities of English syllabification begin to work - they are constantly and most consistently played upon. All the syllables ( each of them in its own right ) are pronounced very clearly and distinctly. Even those syllables which are usually weak and totally unstressed like [nIs ] in "stillness"and [f(@)n ] in "stiffen" stand out in the flow of speech very clearly, because the final consonants [s] and [n] are very intensively pronounced forming the peaks or crests of muscular energy in English.
[This brings us to the category of stress vs. accent in the English language which clearly is another highlight of cognitive syllabics. It deals with the bringing out of one of the syllables of the utterance by means of a sudden change in the melodic curve accompanied and enhanced by an increase in intensity and duration. The two sides of the phonetic phenomenon in question are more or less regularly kept apart. Let us consider them in detail.
[The term stress is used primarily with reference to different degrees of syllable prominence as it is marked in the most authoritative English dictionaries ( Bolinger, 1961). It is of special significance for the Russian learner because the system of stresses in the English language is much more complex and diversified than in Russian. As is well known there are four degrees of stress in English which the human ear is capable of distinguishing - the primary stress, the strong secondary stress the weak secondary stress and the totally unstressed syllable. There are many words which have two or three and sometimes even four stresses, for example: distribution, segregation, unceremonious, supererogation, autobiographic etc. Generally speaking, only three vowels can be totally unstressed [i] [u] and [@ ] (, !Cvbhybwrbq^19591).
[The difference between English and Russian insofar as the system of stresses is concerned accounts for the peculiar character of separate syllables. In English they appear to be free, independent and much more self-contained than in Russian. That is why teaching our students to forget about separate sounds and concentrating on the English articulation basis, we must make it as clear as possible from the very start that the most important unit of the speech chain is certainly the syllable. Not only does the whole utterance rely on the activity of the glottis but it also acquires a much more distinct and pronounced divisibility into its separate parts.
[As far as the term "accent" is concerned, it clearly goes beyond the bounds of separate syllables and pertains to the realm of words. It makes for the intelligibility of English speech, and shows how people's ability to bring out syllables in the flow of speech actually works or functions, different syllables irrespective of their inherent characteristics being not infrequently made extra strong (or stressed) to suit this or that speaker's special intention.
[To this we have to add that accent and stress usually go together in English and when we say that one of the syllables is stressed, it immediately implies that it can also become accented. In other words "the stressed syllable of a word is the syllable with the potential for accent" (Bolinger, 1961). The primary or the unifying lexical stress, however, is functionally the most important one. It makes for the identity of the word as such and it is on this syllable that the accent (if any) usually falls. Thus, for example, if the speaker makes the word "anything" stand out in the flow of speech by pronouncing it more emphatically than the other words of the sentence, this word becomes accented ( receives accent) and the first syllable with the unifying lexical stress is pronounced with an abrupt change in the melodic curve and an increase in intensity and duration.
[This is the essence of things, the general background which every learner of English must be familiar with to be able to understand the most important difference between English and Russian syllabification. It also makes for the peculiarities of English rhythm as compared with rhythm in Russian and unless one is fully aware of the general state of the art, the typically Russian syllabification and the so-called Russian "fading"at the end of the sentence will all the time be there.
Syllabification and rhythm.
It should be pointed out in this connection that syllabification is inextricably connected with rhythm. The latter is totally based on the former (thrives on it, as it were) whereas the former firmly relies on the existing rhythmical patterns (dactyls, trochees and monobeats) and is subject to all sort of restrictions and modifications which are superimposed on it in the flow of speech (Maguidova, 1997). We set so much store by discussing stress-accent relationship in English, because when it comes to speech the basic distinction between stressed ( or strong) and unstressed (or weak) syllables is absolutely vital.
[So much has already been said and written about the basic principles of stress-timed rhythm that there is absolutely no need to dwell at length on its rules and regularities again. Strangely enough, so far very little ( if at all) has come out of all those theoretical pronouncements. Teaching rhythm appears to be extremely problematic even within one and the same rhythmical group of languages. Thus, although both English and Russian are usually described as stress-timed languages, the actual learning of rhythm and its peculiarities is a very difficult task. It won't be an exaggeration to say that it is one of the corner-B stones of our phonetic classes.
[This rather unfavourable state of affairs can be accounted for by the still recurring practice of speaking about rhythm and syllabification separately, as if these two principal entities didn't have the same roots and were not interconnected. Cognitive syllabics enables us to change the situation drastically. It shows most convincingly that it is certainly the system of English syllabification which lubricates the mechanism of English rhythm.
Rhythm and rhetoric.
This, however, is far from being the whole story. After years and years of painstaking research we, foreign philologists, have come to believe that the highly involved questions of syllabification and rhythm must be studied and analysed in terms of rhetoric. By rhetoric we mean an all-embracing art of speech expressivity. It teaches people to convince, instruct and delight their interlocutors in the process of communication. It is by no means a speculative subject or an abstract disquisition on the general value of elocution, but it is the tool of our trade, one of the most essential parts of our philological education. We have to accept a completely new, pragmaphilological approach to it, because we believe that this will make our knowledge in the field of English phonetics really productive, so that we could model this aspect of the English language pragmalinguistically and present it to our students to the best advantage.
[Much has already been done along these lines. The so-called 'three R's' - in our case it is reading, writing and rhetoric not (a)rithmetic - have gradually become part and parcel of our philological curriculum. We believe that intellective communication which we are after can hardly be confined to what Professor .Gimson described as "a level of minimum general intelligibility" (Gimson, 1989). In this case syllabic modifications don't go beyond the confines of the basic intonational contour of English. There is nothing about them, which would contradict the basic regularities of English stress-B timed rhythm. Stress-accent relationship is straightforward and unambiguous. What the speaker strives for is clarity and lucidity of exposition. The speed of enunciation being slowed down and the degree of loudness being considerably increased syllabification becomes much more pronounced and clear-cut.
[It stands to reason that this is only the lowest rung of the communicative ladder. What we are after using Professor. Gimson's terminology is 'a performance of high acceptability' intellective communication in the proper sense of the word (Gimson 1989). It requires special knowledge on the part of the speakers of how syllabification actually works, the whole bulk of phonetic particulars being presented in the accented syllable as one indivisible whole. In this case 'syllabification in general' ( as it is reflected in the generally accepted rules and regularities of syllabic division) culminates in what can be described as 'syllabification proper' ( when it comes to communicative skills as such).
[Otherwise stated, syllabification begins to work here as an important means of communicative proficiency. The latter presupposes the ability of the speaker to communicate and impart his ideas and emotions in a linguistically correct and optimal way and it can only be acquired through special training and practice. We believe that one can learn and teach other people to communicate effectively relying on the deeply-rooted principles of syllabic division, bringing out or degrading syllables by different phonetic means in strict accordance with the general purport of the utterance. Thus for example:
"I've gradually come to believe that we cannot solve our environmental problems simply by coming up with yet more answers based on technology alone. Every so-called solution seems to unleash a whole new generation of problems. What interests me is the debate going on beneath the actual issues. It's the debate about values; about what we mean by things like wealth progress and growth".
[This text is a beautiful example of literary English used as a means of intellective communication. After switching on the video and presenting it to our students as such we immediately pass on to the nitty-gritty details which form part and parcel of our philological education. First comes the English articulation basis, our students' attention being drawn to the peculiarities of modern English pronunciation and the specific position of the main organs of speech. The students should try and imitate what they see on the video as closely as possible. A special point should be made about the opposition of lax and tense vowels such as [i:] in "me," "believe," deeply" and [i] in "interests," "things"and "issues"; [O: ] in "more" and [O ] in "problems" and "solve"; [a:] in "answers" and [V ] in "country" and "subject". Russian students should learn to pronounce them properly, in standard literary fashion never substituting length for tension and shortness for laxity of articulation.
[In this respect this target material appears to be very helpful - laxity and tension of articulation are used here as rhetorical devices consciously played upon to suit the general purport of the utterance:
"What interests me is the debate going on beneath the actual issues".
[By changing his voice skilfully within the confines of the Descending Scale, bringing extra weight to stressed syllables with tense and lax vowels to underline the peculiarities of English rhythm, the speaker arrives at a very powerful and convincing way of pronouncing the sentence which suits his intention to the best.
[This brings us back to the necessity of teaching voice and the peculiarities of English syllabification from the very start. If what we are after is the way English sounds are actually used, there can be no question of teaching them in isolation, without concrete loudness, tempo, pitch-movement, rhythm and timbre of the utterance. Unless these fundamental issues are made crystal clear, the English articulation basis will always remain an abstraction, a kind of an interesting theoretical pronouncement which has nothing to do with practice and communication proper.
[Otherwise stated, we come from the premise that sounds and tunes of English are indivisible from syllabification and voice. They can be taught and acquired through conscious imitation of the kind of English which suits our professional aspirations. The choice of the target is absolutely crucial, because it is not an ordinary exercise in phonetics to be trained, and discussed and forgotten entirely the moment we leave the classroom. It is a living thing, a concrete speech situation devoted to the subject which is of general interest and importance. It clearly shows what rhetoric is - how to instruct convince and delight one's listeners in the process of communication.
[It follows from what has just been said that while teaching English phonetics what we basically strive for is to bridge the so far existing methodological gap between teaching sounds and syllabification, on the one hand, and practising rhythm and rhetoric, on the other. The first point to be made here is that in cognitive syllabics ( as well as in many other modern trends and directions of linguistic research ) all language processes are to be viewed with respect to the speaker-hearer as the situated agent involved in communicative activities of various kinds. This means that both sides of human communication, that is speech production, on the one hand , and speech perception, on the other, must be seen very deeply into. It is a very difficult task for quite a few reasons among which, without any doubt, English speech rhythm comes first.
English rhythm and the category of phrasing.
It is a well-known fact that rhythm as a whole is an extremely multifarious phenomenon. It is created and conditioned by quite a number of factors: structural and cultural psychological and physiological linguistic and extralinguistic ones - all of them are closely connected and interwoven.
[In view of this the category of phrasing i.e. the division (or the articulation) of text which best suits this or that speaker's semantic and aesthetic intention requires special consideration [(Alexandrova, Ter-Minasova, 1987]). The fact is that when the English language is being used for human inmtercourse, everyone is absolutely free to choose the arrangement of different speech components. In other words, within the framework of literary English, being aware of the principles of stress-B timing and the basic interplay of the elementary and complex rhythmical groups, people phrase their speech individually, choosing the way which they think will be most suitable to the occasion. Phrasing opens up absolutely new vistas and horizons which have not been available to the learner of English for years and decades, and it paves the way to communicative proficiency, when people begin to use rhythm consciously, conveying their ideas to the interlocutors in the best possible way.
Affective syllabics.
The material of affective syllabics, that is the art of bringing out or on the contrary suppressing syllables within the framework of the Glide Down, which best orators and public speakers make special use of, appears to be extremely interesting in this respect. It further explains and clarifies the concept of phrasing and shows what syllables and syllabification have actually to do with the so far unresolved question of English rhythm. It can be further enhanced and intensified as in Mrs. Thatcher's speech, when the whole utterance is not simply 'cut up' but 'hacked' into rhythmical units, and the stress-timed principle is exaggerated or it can be slurred and erased deliberately as in the Queen's speech, which in its turn creates a special kind of timbre and helps to keep her audience in expectation. Thus, for example:
"I am the first to acknowledge that morality is not and never has been the monopoly of any party. Nor do we claim that it is. But we do claim that it is the foundation of our policies".
[This passage from Mrs. Thatcher's speech is an extremely interesting exercise in affective syllabics: the speaker uses all imaginable affective (or rhetorical) devices to make people attend and understand. As a result all the three syllabic parameters (tone, intensity and duration) are enormously enhanced, and some of the stressed syllables become extra-strong and are brought out to the utmost.
[With Her Majesty the Queen the situation is absolutely different: her speech does affect us and it does stand out among other public speeches of today by a very peculiar, 'regal' kind of syllabification. This time it is not separate syllables but sense groups which are clearly marked off in the flow of speech. All of them are pronounced with a level tone and a certain prolongation of syllables at the end. We can even go so far as to say that this treatment of terminal syllables in every sense group is absolutely vital: the speaker has to prolong them to take in a new portion of breath and to go on without pauses and digressions to the end of the sentence. Her speech is characterised by the general uniformity of tones; without any abrupt changes in the melodic curve all parts of the utterance are on a 'lighter' kind of tone as it were:
"I look forward to visiting Barbados next March to mark the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the House of Assembly there and to being present next autumn on the occasion of the Commonwealth-Heads-of-Government Meeting in Malaysia.
[It stands to reason that however interesting and exciting in terms of rhetoric and rhythm each of these two speeches may be what we are after is certainly not their exact imitation. Our aim is to learn to use both kinds of rhythm in proper time and proper place always, bearing in mind the dynamics of people's attention and trying to make our speech easy to apprehend and pleasant to listen to.
Monotony as the enemy of effective speaking.
The fact is that people's attention is extremely unstable. As one of the recent research-works in the field has shown "it flashes on and off at unpredictable intervals. Rather than acting like a sponge to absorb every bit of information that comes our way, most of us act more like filters" (Turk, 1985). We listen only to information that gets our attention, and the more striking and abrupt the way to achieve it is, the better we understand and remember the point in question. Monotony is considered to be the enemy of effective speaking; it is contrast between the elements which is required. The task of the speaker therefore is to avoid monotony by changing his voice and modulating his rhythm consciously restructuring and rebuilding it by means of the typically English syllabification.
[Otherwise stated, we believe that we can make people listen to what we have to tell them by relying on the basic and the most important unit of perception and articulation in the English language i.e. the syllable. It forms the groundwork of English rhythm "the soul, the breath, the life of English rhythmicality" because it easily adjusts itself both to the speaker and the hearer, as the situated agents involved in communicative activities of various kinds.
[To illustrate the point let us turn again to our target material and see how highly competent orators and rhetors actually do it for example:
"Glasnost and the political reform have gone far further, far faster than any of us could ever have thought and it seems to me that they have transformed the whole atmosphere. I believe that perestroika will succeed, that is the economic reform following the political reform.
I think it is perhaps easier for governments to bring about political reform, than it is to bring about economic reform. The political can be done by the Government taking the requisite action, although it requires a great deal of boldness, and courage, and vision.The economic reform is something where the government provides the opportunity for the greater personal liberties and people have to respond in partnership with government. Economic reform (the fruits of economic reform), the greater prosperity can only come about with the active and willing cooperation and greater effort by the people. If you take freedom, then you must take responsibility with it, and it's the exercise of that responsibility, and that effort and initiative which brings about the economic reform.
Clearly the change is so great that it takes longer than the political reform. But I am convinced that it will come about, and the prospects for great prosperity for the people of the Soviet Union are greater than they have been at any time during the last seventy years. The old system would not have brought about prosperity for the people of the Soviet Union; the new thinking will."
[This speech is of particular interest because it is clearly well prepared, and the speaker knows how to convey her ideas in the best possible way. The speech falls neatly into three parts which are by no means equal either in length or rhythmical organisation. In fact the whole passage is based on constant alternation of tension and laxity, staccato and legato, stress-B timing and something which is more in the nature of syllable-B timing.
[Thus, in the first paragraph the length of the inter-stress interval is totally conditioned by the four phonetically identical syllables in "far faster" and "far further". What's happening can be generally described as 'intensification of syllables' when four stressed syllables in a row ( all of them containing a very strong fricative 'f' at the beginning) become specially accented or doubly weighted and are brought out in the flow of speech most conspicuously. They form a kind of rhythmical and rhetorical fulcra, both for the speaker and the hearer to concentrate on in the process of communication. As a result the rest of the utterance is phrased automatically in the same extremely clear-cut and vociferous fashion, when all the capacities of English syllabification are called for to match this peculiar rhythm pattern, to support and enhance it, and in the final analysis to help to convey the general purport of the utterance, i.e. the idea of the speedy and unpredictable changes which are taking place in this country at the moment.
[Particularly interesting in this respect is the syllable-by-syllable pronunciation of the words "transformed" and "atmosphere". They are not just divided but 'hacked' into two equally strong syllables, and this rather specific, 'monobeatic' pronunciation fits into the general rhythmical pattern very nicely, underlining the phonetic similarity of all the additionally weighted or accented words.
[As soon as we pass on to the second part of the text, we immediately realise that here the inter-stress interval is no longer what it used to be. It does not require a very close examination to see that some of the initially stressed or strong syllables are brought out to the utmost, whereas others are suppressed and phonetically degraded, being engulfed, as it were, by their much more powerful phonetic environment. As a result the inter-stress interval considerably increases, our attention being drawn only to the keywords or the most essential points within the whole utterance - "people" and "government," "political" and "economic," "the old" and the "new" etc. Using Professor Bolinger's terminology it is "contrastive accent" which comes here to the fore (Bolinger, 1961). By extending the inter-stress interval the speaker manages "to disambiguate her message syntactically," so to speak, and to present the underlying idea with utmost clarity and conviction (Lehiste, 1977).
[As far as the third part is concerned here the speaker arrives at what can be described as 'the balanced variety' of dactylic and trochaic syllabic sequences. The latter, which is most welcome in intellective communication in general, in this case suits the speaker's special intention, helping her to convey the idea of economic success and prosperity which she believes will sooner or later come true in this country.
Syllables and phonesthemes.
So far so good. Sometimes, however, stress-accent relationship is even more involved than in the texts adduced above. Of special interest in this connection is the material which illustrates the interrelationship between syllables and phonesthemes, when different syllables serve as the necessary background against which all possible phonetic-morphological repetitions are realised, for example:
"Although nearly everybody can identify syllables, almost nobody can define them." (Ladefoged, 1975).
[
This is a very special case of play upon words when two verbs containing similar phonemes are brought together both prosodically and syntactically: "identify," "define" [(, !Yfpfhjdf^ 1994, * , , Lfdsljd^ Jreitdf^ 1994]1). As is clearly seen not all the syllables are initially stressed: some of them - [di] in "define" and [fai] in "identify" would be weak or even totally unstressed if the word were taken in isolation. Nevertheless, when the two words are brought together the phonetic resemblance does affect us and it produces a desirable impact, our attention being drawn to the inexplicable contradiction which the seemingly simple notion of the syllable appears to imply.
[In this case both stressed and unstressed syllables are intensified. All of them acquire additional force (become accented) and stand out in the flow of speech most conspicuously. The desirable effect, however, would not be achieved and the phonetic resemblance would not be perceived and apprehended if the syllables were not specially treated and manipulated in the flow of speech. Everything again depends on one's attitude towards the subject of his or her speech. Thus, in the following example borrowed from D.Bolinger what the speaker is after is certainly making people laugh:
"This whiskey', said O'Reilly, sampling spirits that claimed to be from his homeland, 'was not exported from Ireland; it was deported".
[By shifting the stress to the initial syllables of the contrasted words - [eks] in "exported" and [di] in "deported" the speaker succeeds in bringing them out to such an extent which implies a 'non-serious' reaction on the part of the listener.
[It should be noted in this connection that the communicative capacities of English syllabification which are so clearly manifested in the oral form of speech, when people are communicating by word of mouth, so to speak, immediately fall to the ground the moment we turn to the written form of speech for example:
"I am not the revival-preacher kind, I like to sit behind my desk and let my em-ploy-ees do the hustling".
[In this sentence the word "employee" is equally hyphenated after every syllable in succession. The question which is bound to arise here is whether in the oral form of speech it is also divided into the equally weighted syllables, or it requires some special skills on the part of the Russian learner to read and pronounce it correctly.
[This brings us back to the concept of the phonetic outlook which has been specified above. The fact is that the moment we begin to analyse the way English syllabification is used for multifarious purposes, we inevitably find more and more evidence of the incredible sensitivity of the British to small syllable differences, their brain being much more readily responsive to small factors of syllable prominence and syllable quantity than that of the Russian learner.
[This, however, is not the whole story. Informal tests, conducted by D.Bolinger showed that when groups of learners were given a sentence like "Does she always act that way?" practically everyone could tell that the syllable 'al' "stood out," but at the same time many would say the pitch went up instead of down (Bolinger, 1986). This experiment shows that in the majority of cases it does not require any sophistication or special training on the part of the learner to perceive syllabic prominence, whereas it is extremely difficult to say what exactly lies behind the effect in question.
[The syllabifying capacities of the English language being incomparably greater than that of the Russian language, most of the time it is not merely the presence of contrast but the quantity of it that has to be decided on by the learner. In other words, the system of stresses being rather diversified, there is already a built-in large-scale syllabic contrast in words and word sequences in English, and more often than not very little (if at all) has to be added to make this or that syllable stand out in the flow of speech.
[Therefore from the very start we should warn our students against all kind of 'simplistic' or 'aprioristic' approaches to the phenomenon in question, when purely Russian syllabifying principles are automatically transferred into the speaking habits of the English language, and the hyphenated word is divided into the equally weighted syllables. Not only does it sound odd and unusual to the English ear, but it also distorts the meaning intended, and as a result precludes people from communication and comprehension at large.
Syllabic speech.
One should specify here that syllabification in this case has got nothing (or very little) to do with the purely typographical division of English words at the end of the line. It is an altogether different question which should by no means be confused with numerous manifestations of 'syllabic speech' when syllabifying processes are deliberately played upon and used by the author as an additional means of getting his ideas and emotions across. Here syllabification can hardly be confined to the rules and principles of the legalised English orthography and totally depends on the author's intention or inclination to use the graphical substance of the phenomenon in question.
[The matter is further complicated by the fact that more often than not syllabic speech is represented in printed texts by means of hyphens, whose signifying functions are not sufficient by far and fail to pass on different 'purports' of the work of verbal art. When applied to syllabic speech, the hyphen can hardly be treated as the punctuation mark pure and simple. It is clearly in a class by itself.That is why it is extremely difficult to read it, supplying it with immediate and straightforward prosodic interpretation, the way colons and commas, dashes and brackets are usually read (, !<fhfyjdf^ 19961). It requires special (cognitive) knowledge and proficiency to understand and interpret it adequately, let alone reproduce it by means of our speaking voice.
Cognitive processing in imaginative writing.
Otherwise stated, teaching syllabification in the written form of speech and especially in imaginative writing, we can be no longer satisfied with the long established peaceful dichotomy of language and speech, their oral and written forms. What we are after is 'cognitive processing' of this or that speech event. It presupposes our ability to present whatever we have to teach ( or interpret) in action, with special emphasis being laid on suprasegmentals or prosody. That is what processing is, and it can by no means be achieved without special cognitive background, when the teacher and the learner are fully aware of both structural (or emic) generalities of English syllabification and its functional-communicative (etic) side. [
Thus, for example, when the hyphen is used to indicate syllabic speech, the pause between the syllables is clearly the shortest among all meaningful manifestations of 'cessation of phonation'. It totally depends on the peculiar treatment of the 'releasing' and the 'arresting' phases of separate syllables (Abercrombie, 1980). This, however, is not the whole story, because syllables can be 'clipped' or 'drawled', made tense or lax, be pronounced sharply and rapidly as steps or even jumps, or, on the contrary, the transition between them can be so slow and smooth that it is more in the nature of the glide (Crystal, 1969). It is only the 'global vertical context' of the given text which makes the correct prosodic interpretation possible.
[To illustrate the point let us turn to one of the most typical cases of syllabic division which is widespread among different languages i.e. the so-called "calling tune":
1. 'Sarah! he called. 'Sarah' spacing the syllables with unbearable falsity.
2. "The cry that shattered the solemnity was Ashley's "Melleee!" And again "Mellee". It was the cry of a soul in torment filled with loneliness and fear.. "
[According to the classical view, every syllable in such cases becomes accented. For the sake of their carrying power all the syllables are pronounced with steady pitches, increased loudness and duration (Bolinger, 1986). Such explanation, however, will hardly suffice if what we are after is the correct prosodic interpretation of these two pieces.
[The first point to be made is, of course, that hyphenation as such is of very little help here (if at all). In the first case it is clearly used to draw the reader's attention to mispronunciation of the name 'Sarah'. When hyphenated after the letter 'r' the first syllable becomes visually isolated from the rest of the word and, in strict accordance with the more general rules of reading, it must be pronounced as [sa:] not [sE@ ]. Both syllables are equally long and strong, and although graphically divided, they are actually pronounced without any cessation of phonation, the pause between the two being so infinitesimal that it is neither pronounced, nor perceived.
[In the second case, however, the transition between the syllables is no longer as smooth and slow as in the previous example. It becomes very sharp and spiky, and the pitch movement is so abrupt that the word is actually divided into two parts both in the oral and the written forms of speech. Here as well as in the sentence adduced above, it is not so much the use of the hyphen itself as the place of it in the word which is of primary significance.
. [It should be noted in this connection that side by side with hyphenation pure and simple the printer can use various typographical means - it can be italic, boldface or small caps, different sizes of type or a combination if typefaces etc. However reluctantly we have to admit that all these means do not reveal the syllabic capacities of the English language to the full. Every time it is cognitive processing on the part of the learner which makes things work, for example:
"But of course what linguistics mainly requires is not a static "dummy" but dynamic modelling _______ modelling the linguistic processes or "simulation".
[In this case the word 'dynamic' is underlined. Not only does the author9r1 want to draw our attention941 to the keyword of the sentence, but also to highlight its phonetic similarity with the word 'dummy' (Akhmanova, 1977). The meaningful contrast of these words is enhanced by their phonetic identity. As a result both originally weak and totally unstressed syllables in the word 'dynamic' become accented and are brought out to the utmost. The whole word is pronounced syllable-by-syllable, so to speak, and the stress-accent relationship is extremely specific and involved.
[Examples of this kind can be multiplied almost indefinitely, although very often syllabic speech is far from being so striking and conspicuous as in the previous case, for example:
"All through the next scene Julia puzzled herself, as to whether she should go to the country and live with Scott. She was in that nervous state when desire seems to evaporate the moment the filfilment is offered. When the curtain dropped she turned. 'You see, ' she said, screwing up her eyes 'I have to think of Robert. 'She cut the word in two, with an odd little hitch in her voice - Rob-ert.'"
[The word 'Robert' is pronounced with a little hitch in the character's voice. The second syllable is held - by delaying its onset the speaker gives additional prominence to it. As a result only the duration of the syllable is slightly increased, whereas the rest of syllabic parameters that is pitch movement and intensity of pronunciation remain unchanged.
[It follows from what has just been said that syllabification in the written form of speech, which so far has always been on the periphery of linguistic research, must at long last be given very serious consideration. It carries large messages and it is impossible without it to read and interpret the text properly.
[To conclude: D.Bolinger has called the English language "the loaded weapon" (Bolinger, 1980). Perhaps it is pushing the analogy too far, but English syllables are also like loaded firearms "which can be hidden where least suspected and the laws against concealed weapons do not apply" (Bolinger 1980). It is high time people begin to look more deeply into their communicative capacities. We on our side are absolutely convinced that English syllabification is a goldmine a so far inexhaustible linguistic reservoir from which devices are drawn and incorporated in speech and communication practically at every step.
***
* * *
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General Phonetics. - Edinburgh, 1980.
8. Alexandrova O.V., Ter-Minasova S.G. English Syntax. - M., 1987.
9. Akhmanova O. Optimization of Natural Communication Systems. - The Hague-Paris 1977.
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13. Bolinger D. Intonation and Its Parts. - California, 1986. - p.4.
14. Bolinger D. Language - the Loaded Weapon. - London and New York, 1980.
15. Crystal D. Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English. - Cambridge 1969.
16.Decheva S. Concerning the Concept of Speech Modelling // Folia Anglistica. - Moscow, 1997. - V.1. - p.38-41.
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Folia Anglistica. 1997, No.2 Language: Structure and
Variation
DISCUSSION:
Irina MAGUIDOVA The Pragmalinguisticians View of Cognitive Syllabics
The importance of cognitive syllabics, a special new trend in anglistic research established by Svetlana Decheva (1994, 1995) for modelling English pronunciation - and, more generally, for pragmalinguistic (demonstration, modelling) register as a whole (Maguidova, 1997) - can scarcely be exaggerated. Greater awareness of how syllable works in living English speech is obviously a must if what we are getting at is building up the third register in its phonetic section, as well as raising the teaching of English to a higher, more up-to-date level.
This is particularly true of those ELT contexts where English (in its British variety) is taught to philologists, as is the case with the Department of English Philology, Moscow State University. In so far as we insist on the Russian anglicists target being the living model of the British education pronunciation standard (Decheva, 1994, 1995; Yakovleva, 1992; Maguidova, 1989, 1997), we naturally have to take into account the present-day phonetic reality of English speech. It is now a well-established fact (something that has been widely discussed in the literature - see, for example, Widdowson, 1994; Crystal, 1995, 1996, 1997; McCarthy and Carter, 1997; Brazil, 1996; Prodromou, 1997; Richard J. Alexander, 1997; Block, David, 1997; Pennycook, 1994, etc. to mention only a few) that English has today become a world language in the proper sense of the word - the one that is used for purposes of international communication not only in NS-NNS contexts (native speaker - non-native speaker) but also (and increasingly more frequently) in NNS-NNS contexts, where the participants are all non-native speakers of the language. As a result, not only should we speak now of different territorial dialects within England - and diatopical variants outside the British Isles (if what we mean are different countries where English is used as the first - the native language) - but also of a great (and ever-increasing number of different Englishes that have sprung all over the world and that claim linguistic independence, as it were, and equal rights for both, themselves and authentic English - that of the native speaker.
In other words, we may speak of lingusitic diversity that exists globally and reveals itself in numerous varieties of international English. As David Crystal put it in his recent publication (1997), World English exists as a political and cultural reality. Moreover, the author (not trying to predict the future but, at least, in an attempt to speculate) suggests that the English language has grown to the extent that it is now independent of social control. As far as the implications for ELT are concerned, there are quite a few authorities on the subject who are now fully convinced that something like World Standard Spoken English will have to emerge, and once it exists - it is this particular variety that has to be taught [Crystal, 1997].
Nevertheless. In so far as in our case we are concerned with a particular ELT context - teaching English to Russian philologists - our target remains the same: learners of English for whom this particular language is their subject should naturally look up to what we have previously described as living models of educated English speech where the standard of pronunciation can be seen in action. Here, however, we are faced with another difficulty - the more or less distinct social varieties within what has traditionally been referred to as pronunciation norm. More than that, the situation with British English pronunciation standard is getting more and more involved with every passing day. New pronunciation tendencies (both on segmental and suprasegmental tendencies) keep emerging (see, for example, a special issue of Speak Out, 1996, on current changes in English pronunciation): Estuary English, Up-Speak, etc. are clearly the latest fashion today as far as linguistic studies are concerned - there is hardly a publication where at least one of these new labels does not figure.
This being the case, where do we stand, as pragmalinguisticians, on the one hand, and as teachers of English, on the other? If, from the point of view of pragmaphonetics, our main purpose is to highlight the most specific properties of educated English pronunciation, how should we cope (in terms of modelling) with the tremendous diversity that is the present-day reality of English speech? What should be our priorities in the face of so much variation? Should we, for example, begin with sounds and transpose them first and foremost into demonstration register (this after all has been the traditional practice in ELT for many decades)?
This, however, can hardly be accepted as a rational approach. As I have written previously (Maguidova, 1989, 1997), the situation with English sounds generally - and vowels in particular - is far from stable. It would not be too much of an exaggeration to suggest that phonetic variation in Modern English is largely based on vowels. Consonants do seem to be of a much more sedate nature - they are much less variable than their opponents in the phonetic system.
That is why about ten years ago at the English Philology Department of the Moscow State University we finally gave up the traditional practice of beginning with sounds, and turned instead to - syllable, and, after that, to rhythm. As experience shows, the introducing of the latest findings in the field of cognitive syllabics and rhythmology into the reality of ELT in the first-year at our Department has actually revolutionised the teaching of English phonetics. What comes first now in the hierarchy of levels is 1) the fundamental properties of the English syllable and 2) the specific basic rhythm of English speech that depends on the proper articulation of stressed syllables (for details see: Decheva, 1994; Maguidova, 1997).
What is there about the English syllable that is so vitally important for both, the phonetic section of the pragmalinguistic register and the teaching of English to Russian philologists? First of all, the distinctive features of the syllable seem to be the more or less permanent characteristics of English speech in whatever variety or register it may be produced (provided, of course, it is the British English that is being discussed). In other words, it is the syllabic aspect of English pronunciation that may form a really solid foundation for teaching Russian anglicists the ABC of intellectual communication (especially with the view of raising it to the level of Rhetoric).
Another point is that the basic English syllable is closed, in contrast with the Russian one, which is open. The fundamental distinction between the two languages is something that the Russian anglicist should be aware of at the earliest possible stage of his linguistic education. The nature of the English syllable is, therefore, one of the highlights in pragmalinguistic terms. The pragmalinguistician should obviously concern himself with making this aspect of English pronunciation come to the fore and model it in specially constructed demonstration texts.
A possible way of building up a text of this kind - i.e. the one that would be specially oriented towards the closed syllable - might be to try and express this or that kind of content by using, preferably, words, the stressed syllables of which would be closed. It goes without saying that pragmalinguistic restrictions in this case can be imposed only on the so-called lexical words - i.e. those, the stressed syllables of which are prominent in terms of prosodic and rhythmical organisation of the utterance1 . Thus, the prominent syllables would all tend to be closed up by the consonant that follows the stressed vowel, while the consonant as such would, in articulatory terms, have to be more weighty and important, that its counterpart in the Russian syllabic system. Here is an example of what a pragmaphonetic text oriented towards the closed s phonetic text oriented towards the closed syllable could look like:
I think the fundamental difficulty, that this planet is at present actually confronted with, is to keep the delicate balance between man and the natural world. Weve suddenly become conscious of just what a devastating impact weve made on the earth, how terrible is the damage we were inflicting to it. Things like, for instance, stretches of empty uncultivatable land (that would have been dismissed by many as not presenting any interest or significance, at the end of the 20th century are unanimously considered to be of particular economic, historical and aesthetic value. They have become infinitely precious to us, because there is probably not a single stretch of wilderness, other than these, left anywhere.
For many centuries man has been stepping up the pressure on the natural world. The consequences of such a pressure are catastrophic: what we at present have to battle with is obviously ecological destruction in the proper sense of the word.
As can be seen from the text, it fully corresponds to the main requirements the pragmalinguistic text is meant to meet [Maguidova, 1997]. It is based on a particular story, its subject being the environmental crisis. The text is made to look (and sound) like a short speech at a conference on the environmental problems, thus producing an impression of a speech event naturally belonging to the style of intellectual communication. On the expression plane the text follows the main literary norms of collocation and colligation. As a matter of fact, the text goes back to one of the targets - actual living models of public speech that form the basis of teaching English to philologists at the Moscow State University [Decheva, 1994; Maguidova, 1997]. The authentic English text has been specially adjusted to serve the particular pragmalinguistic purpose - to highlight the closed syllable as one of the specifically important features of the English literary (educated) pronunciation standard.
In order to make the demonstration text fulfil its modelling function, special attention had to be given to the choice of words, which, in each case, depend on the character of the stressed syllable. Obviously, words with open stressed syllables (like no, today, more, etc.) had to be carefully avoided. As can be seen from the text, its expression plane is mainly based on lexical words with closed stressed syllables. Against the total amount of 84 stressed syllables that occur in the text (those that support the prosodic contour in each case of prosodic division), there are only 7 with tense vowels - 6 with monophthongs (keep, world (2 t.), earth, these, word) and one with a diphthong (made). The remaining 77 stressed syllables are those based on lax vowels.
It should also be pointed out in connection with lax-vowel-based stressed syllables, that in this text they, for the most part, end in either strong fricatives (as in, for example, dismissed, precious, left, pressure, difficulty, etc.), strong plosives (as in, for example, actually, particular, inflicting, stepping, destruction, etc.), strong affricates (as in, for example, stretches, natural, stretch), or resonants (as in, for example, land, become, single, confronted, value, infinitely, etc.). In other words, the consonants, that close up most of the lax-vowel-based syllables in the given text belong to those classes of English sounds that require particular articulatory effort on the part of the speaker. As a result, the Russian reader will be compelled to bring out the close-up consonant every time he/or she has to produce the stressed syllable - and in this way to concentrate on its closedness.
Of special interest here is the fact that side by side with monosyllabic stressed words (such as, for example, stretch, this, think, land, etc.), there occur in the text quite a few polysyllabic words (like empty, probably, infinitely, consequences, etc.) which makes the task of the reader still more complicated, especially in those cases where the stressed syllable opens the word. The difficulty here is that the Russian anglicist might involuntarily tend to divide the word into syllables in the Russian manner - that is, on the basis of vowels. Here, on the contrary, the lax-vowel-based closed stressed syllable would compel the reader to draw the line of demarcation after the consonant, by making it close-up (join, as it were) the preceding rather than attach itself to the vowel that follows (i.e. open the following syllable).
As far as the tense-vowel-based closed stressed syllables are concerned it should be specially noted that all the seven cases are presented by monosyllabic words, five of which occur at the end of the prosodic contour before a pause (world (2 t.), earth, these, word), and only two occur at the beginning (keep) and in the middle (made). Again, this is a special trickof the pragmalinguistician who uses the final position quite deliberately to make the closed character of the stressed syllable stand out more clearly. The fact is that in the case of the tense vowel, with so much effort required to produce it, the Russian anglicist might be tempted to fade articulatorily by the end of the syllable, so that the final closing-up consonant would run the risk of disappearing altogether. In our text, however, since each of the five words is placed at the end of the prosodic contour, it has to be said with a non-level tone (either a low-rising, or a mid-falling, or a low-falling one) - and, therefore, it has to be articulated with somehow greater energy. As a result, it becomes more prominent, more weighty, as it were, in both its elements - the tense vowel and the following consonant. Moreover, in earth, where the syllable ends in a strong fricative, and in world, where the vowel is followed by a resonant, both consonants are particularly powerful, which is still more enhances by the final position the word takes in the contour. It should be specially emphasised in this connection that the segmental aspect of the problem - what kinds of sound actually constitute the syllable in each particular case - is something that a pragmaphonetician should never ignore. In most cases, when handled carefully, with proper attention given to the inherent properties of different classes of vowels and consonants, the syllabic peculiarities of English speech could be brought out with greatest possible clarity.
By this, however, the subject under discussion is far from exhausted. One more approach seems to be particularly useful if we want to highlight the specific closing-up function of the consonant in the English closed syllable, - the one that is based on syllabic speech [Decheva, 1994]. Thus, the pragmalinguistic text that has just been adduced could be adjusted still further to focus on the closed stressed syllable within a polysyllabic word (we have just explained how difficult it is sometimes for the Russian anglicist to divide the word into syllables in the English fashion against the background of vowel-based syllable-division in his own mother-tongue. In order to get the result we want, we could present at least some of the polysyllabic words as pronounced syllable-by-syllable for emphatic purposes; our text, then, would probably look like this:
For many centuries man has been stepping up the pressure on the natural world. The consequences of this pressure are cat-as-troph-ic: what we at present have to battle with is obviously ecological des-truc-tion in the proper sense of the word. I think this one of the most sig-nif-ic-ant problems we are confronted with at the end of the twentieth century?
In terms of content, this kind of syllabic pronunciation seems to be properly motivated by the situation of public speaking as such: as special research has shown [Decheva, 1994], experienced orators, do use this way of saying words as a powerful rhetorical device for purposes of emphasis. In the present case the speaker might well be tempted to bring out the words catastrophic, destruction and significant in order to impress his audience and convince them that what he says is really true: the ecological situation all over the world is getting so grave that it is actually bordering on the environmental crisis.
At the same time the syllabic pronunciation in each of the three cases helps the learner to concentrate on the importance of the consonant that closes-up the stressed syllable ([f] in catastrophic, [k] in destruction, and [f] in significant). Thus we may conclude that the text performs its modelling function to the best advantage.
There is yet another aspect of the problem under discussion. The fact is that the specific nature of English syllables is bound to affect the basic rhythm of English speech. The closed stressed syllable is so powerful that it draws towards itself all the weakly articulated (reduced) unstressed syllables that follow (whether these belong to the same word or to another word does not really matter). That is why, probably, the dactylic and trocaic (to apply the poetic terms) sequences of syllables seem to be so important in some registers of English speech - as, for example, in that of intellective communication [Maguidova, 1989, 1997]. This also makes it imperative that they should be specially modelled in pragmalinguistic texts. As our practice has shown, English dactyls and trochees lend themselves to this kind of modelling quite readily: an example of a text like this, where the interplay of dactylic and trochaic sequences has been shown to function as the most powerful means of conveying the intellective message, was given in my previous publication [Maguidova, 1997].
Materials of this kind turn out to be particularly successful in teaching English to Russian anglicists, provided the basic principles of English rhythm are explained and modelled only after the most essential properties of the English syllable have been properly highlighted in the pragmalinguistic texts.
Needless to say, the relationship between syllable and rhythm is much too vast a subject to be exhausted in a short article: obviously there is much more to it than what has been said on a few pages. Of special interest here to study the role of different kinds of syllabic sequences in the rhythmical organisation of artistic prose. Extensive pragmalinguistic research along these lines is, at the present moment, under way at the Department. Quite interesting results have already been obtained in the study of the two- and three-member sentences as a special phonetic-stylistic device in a work of verbal art. But this is clearly another subject to be discussed in yet another article.
***
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