Common Literary Words and their Stylistic Functions. Literary Coinages.

Common standard literary words are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech. They are used in formal communication. Literary words are mainly observed in the written form. One can always tell a literary word from a colloquial word, because literary words are used to satisfy communicative demands of official, scientific, poetic messages, while colloquial words are employed in non-official everyday communication. Literary words stand in opposition to colloquial/ It is esp apparent when pairs of synonyms stand in contrasting relation. kid (colloq.) infant (bookish, official) offspring (bookish, scientific); daddy (colloq.) male parent / ancestor (formal); carry on (colloq.) proceed (bookish, formal); get going /get started / Come on! (colloq.) commence (formal). The synonyms are not absolute. Stylistic difference+literary words aren't so much emotinally coloured. There are upper and lower ranges of literary words. They approach the neutral layer and have a tendency to pass into it.

Literary coinages. *terminological coinages-designite new-born concepts *stylistic coinages-coined in order to get an expressive utterance. Many appear in publicistic style. Formation: by conversion,derivation, change of meaning, affixation, word-compounding. blending, abbreviations. +Borrowings from Latin. Greek, French. (16-17 century) Literary critics, men-of-letters and linguists have manifested different attitudes towards new -coinages both literary and colloquial. Ever since the 16th century, literature has shown example after example of the losing battle of the purists whose strongest objection to the new words was on the score of their obscurity. The fate of the new coinages depends on the number of rival synonyms slready existing in the language. Many coinages disappear from the language, leaving no markof their even brief existance. Other leave traces in the languagebecause they are fixed in literature of their time. accessories-accessorize orbiter lander detribalized anti-novelist anti-hero showmanship supermanship journalese smog (smoke+fog) cinemactress GOX (gaseous oxygen) Nonce-words. Coined for one particular occasion. On the outscirts of the literaey language. Rarely pass into the language as legitimate units, but remain as constant manifistations of its power of word-building. They are not registered by English dictionaries. cousined aunted uncled most bestest morish (a little more)

24. Common Colloquial Words and their Stylistic Functions Common colloquial words are always more emotionally coloured than literary ones. They are used in informal communication. Both literary and colloquial words have their upper and lower ranges. The lower range of literary words approaches the neutral layer and has a tendency to pass into that layer. The upper range of the colloquial layer can easily pass into the neutral layer too. The lines of demarcation between common colloquial and neutral and common literary and neutral are blurred. Here we may see the process of interpenetration of the stylistic layers. The stylistic function of the different layers of the English Vocabulary depends in many respects on their interaction when they are opposed to one another. It is interesting to note that anything written assumes a greater degree of significance than what is only spoken. If the spoken takes the place of the written or vice versa, it means that we are faced with a stylistic device. Colloquial speech is characterised by the frequent use of words with a broad meaning (something close to polysemy): speakers tend to use a small group of words in quite different meanings, whereas in a formal style (official, business, scientific) every word is to be used in a specific and clear meaning. Compare the different uses of the verb get which frequently replaces in oral speech its more specific synonyms: I got (= received) a letter today; Where did you get (= buy) those jeans?; They didn t get (= there wasn t) much snow last winter; I got (= caught) the flu last month; Where has my pen got to (= disappeared)?; I got (= forced) him to help me with the work; I didn t get (= hear) you / what ou said. There are phrases and constructions typical of colloquial style: What s up? (= What has happened?); so-so (= not especially good); Sorry? Pardon? (= Please, repeat it, I didn t hear you); See you (= Good-bye); Me too / neither (= So / neither do I), etc. In grammar there may be: (a) the use of shortened variants of word-forms, e.g. isn t; can t; I d say, he d ve done (= would have done); Yaa (= Yes); (b) the use of elliptical (incomplete) sentences; (Where s he?) At home; Like it? (= Do you / Did you like it?) Not too much (= I don t like it too much); (Shall I open it?) Don t!; May I? (= May I do this?) The syntax of colloquial speech is also characterised by the preferable use of simple sentences or by asyndetic connection (absence of conjunctions) between the parts of composite sentences; complex constructions with non-finite forms are rarely used. Colloquial words mark the message as informal, non-official, conversational.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 3826