Lecture 15

Chiasmus belongs to the group of stylistic devices based on the repetition of a syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phrases. Both parts of the parallel construction have the same, the normal word order. However the witty arrangement of the words has given the utterance an epigrammatic character. This device may be classed as lexical chiasmus or chiasmatic repetition. It must be remembered that chiasmus is a syntactical, not a lexical device, i.e. it is only the arrangement of the parts of the utterance which constitutes this stylistic device.

Repetition is an expressive means of language used when the speaker is under the stress of strong emotion. When used as a stylistic device, repetition acquires quite different functions. It does not aim at making a direct emotional impact. On the contrary, the stylistic device of repetition aims at logical emphasis, an emphasis necessary to fix the attention of the reader on the keyword of the utterance. Repetition is classified according to compositional design. If the repeated word (or phrase) comes at the beginning of two or more consecutive sentences, clauses or phrases, we have anaphora, as in the example above. If the repeated unit is placed at the end of consecutive sentences, clauses or phrases we have the type of repetition called epiphora. This compositional design of repetition is called framing. Among other compositional models of repetition is linking or reduplication (also known as anadiplosis). The structure of this device is the following: the last word or phrase of one part of an utterance is repeated at the beginning of the next part, thus hooking the two parts together. The first, the primary one, is to intensify the utterance. Intensification is the direct outcome of the use of the expressive means employed in ordinary intercourse; but when used in other compositional designs, the immediate emotional charge is greatly suppressed and is replaced by a purely aesthetic aim. Meditation, sadness, reminiscence and other psychological and emotional states of mind are suggested by the repetition. The variety of repetition may be called synonym repetition. This is the repetition of the same idea by using synonymous words and phrases which by adding a slightly different nuance of meaning intensify the impact of the utterance. There are two terms frequently used to show the negative attitude of the critic to all kinds of synonym repetitions. These are pleonasm and tautology. The "Shorter Oxford Dictionary" defines pleonasm as "the use of more words in a sentence than are necessary to express the meaning; redundancy of expression." Tautology is defined as "the repetition of the same statement; the repetition (especially in the immediate context) of the same word or phrase or of the same idea or statement in other words; usually as a fault of style."

Enumeration is a stylistic device by means of which homogeneous parts of an utterance are made heterogeneous from the semantic point of view.

Suspense is a compositional device which consists in arranging the matter of a communication in such a way that the less important, descriptive, subordinate parts are amassed at the beginning, the main idea being withheld till the end of the sentence. Suspense always requires long stretches of speech or writing. It must be noted that suspense, due to its partly psychological nature (it arouses a feeling of expectation), is framed in one sentence, for there must not be any break in the intonation pattern. Separate sentences would violate the principle of constant emotional tension which is characteristic of this device.

Climax is an arrangement of sentences (or of the homogeneous parts of one sentence) which secures a gradual increase in significance, importance, or emotional tension in the utterance. A gradual increase in significance may be maintained in three ways: logical, emotional and quantitative. Logical climax is based on the relative importance of the component parts looked at from the point of view of the concepts embodied in them. Emotional climax is based on the relative emotional tension produced

by words with emotive meaning. Quantitative climax is an evident increase in the volume of the corresponding concepts. The indispensable constituents of climax are:

9. the distributional constituent: close proximity of the component parts arranged in increasing order of importance or significance;

10. the syntactical pattern: structure of each of the clauses or sentences with possible lexical repetition;

11. the connotative constituent: the explanatory context which helps the reader to grasp the gradation, as no... ever once in all his life, nobody ever, nobody, No beggars (Dickens); deep and wide, horrid, dark and tall (Byron); veritable (gem of a city).